No SRK, but HR or Ranveer in Abhishek Varman's next

Hrithik and Ranveer in contention for the role

The cold war between Shah Rukh Khan and his once-upon-a-time bestie Karan Johar has ended, but is it like the good ol' times?

You already know that KJo facilitated the signing up of SRK opposite Alia Bhatt for Gauri Shinde's next project after English Vinglish. Plus, the Khan and his son dropped by at Dharma Productions' office, before Aryan left for UK. Photos of the unexpected event were naturally splashed all over.

Now, 9xe.com has learnt that Karan was keen that SRK lead the cast of his protg Abhishek Varman's next film after the uber successful 2 States. This is a period story set during the Partition era- a dream project for KJo, who had once announced a similar project to be directed by himself, starring SRK, Kajol, Rani Mukerji and believe it or not, Ajay Devgn.

The Partition tale has been revived under the direction of Abhishek. According to our source, SRK had assented to it. But once the project's details were budgeted, King Khan felt that the budget was overshooting because of his presence and he graciously excused himself from the project.



Now, the choice for the main lead role is likely to be either Hrithik Roshan or Ranveer Singh. Uh oh.