Salman & Ajay in race for Bajirao Mastani

Meena Iyer (BOMBAY TIMES; August 7, 2012)

Sanjay Leela Bhansali has been dreaming of making his biopic on the Peshwa, Bajirao, and his wife Mastani for nearly a decade. In these 10 years, there has been such extensive reporting on this movie and SLB's wish-list for his lead players that one has seen many Bollywood actors temporarily assume the face of Bajirao.

SLB had started talking about this dream project soon after Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999) and had wanted his original favourite Salman Khan as the lead actor and Kareena Kapoor was to play Mastani. An insider said, "Salman and Kareena even did the photoshoot in the attire at a five-star hotel in Juhu.'' However the film didn't take off and later when Sanjay wanted to revive it, Salman who was dating Katrina Kaif had insisted he consider Kat instead of Bebo.

In the years gone by, this film has been one of the most speculated movies and the casting for the lead roles seems to have done a full round of the top brass in Bollywood.

Post Black, there was talk of SLB wanting the Bachchans and later there was speculation that he may even consider Salman's bte noire Shah Rukh Khan for the role of Bajirao. The latest card that has been opened in this drama reveals that SLB is reportedly in talks with Ajay Devgn for the role. And of course, we also hear that Kat, who now speaks Hindi adeptly, may be Mastani. Bhansali, who is currently eating, sleeping, breathing Ram Leela (the Ranveer Singh-Deepika Padukone film) that will roll this August, is obviously in no mood to throw light on his next project. But Bajirao-Mastani is also very much on the anvil and yes, Ajay and Sanjay have been in talks. Frankly, we are only connecting the dots because these talks may lead to an important casting announcement.