Shahid Kapoor OPTS out of Imtiaz Ali's next, Rajkummar Rao steps into

That Shahid Kapoor was doing director Imtiaz Ali's next movie, is something that everyone already knew. The actor-director duo announced their collaboration last year when their first film together - Jab We Met had clocked ten years. Shahid Kapoor had confirmed the same while he was promoting Padmaavat.

 

The actor expressed his excitement of working again with Imtiaz Ali and the director also had revealed that the movie isn't a travel-oriented film. It was expected to go on floors in April, this year. But that didn't happen and later, Sasha informed a tabloid that the movie has gone on the backburner and they will work on it sometime next year.

 

Interestingly, now we hear is that the movie isn't happening at all for Shahid Kapoor. The handsome actor has walked out of the movie and instead, actor Rajkummar Rao has stepped into his role. A source in the know confirmed the same to us. "Shahid Kapoor was very excited about this film. He even gave a look test for this in November, last year. But then after that things didn't fall into place. There were some issues with the script and both Shahid and Imtiaz decided to put the movie on the backburner. However, now Shahid has completely pulled out of the movie. He has told Imtiaz that he cannot do it and has taken up other projects too. Imtiaz has accepted this decision and there are no ill feelings between the actor and the director."

 

Adds another source, "Imtiaz's movie is a two-hero project. So earlier, Shahid Kapoor was cast along with Rajkummar Rao. Now that Sasha is not doing the movie at all, Rao has stepped into Kapoor's role and the hunt for a replacement for Rao's original role is on. Meanwhile, Imtiaz is also working on the script and the changes it requires after Shahid Kapoor walking out of it and to suit the personality of Rajkummar Rao."

 

To get an official quote on this, we have messaged Shahid Kapoor, Imtiaz Ali and Rajkummar Rao. We are awaiting a revert from them.

 

Meanwhile, Shahid Kapoor is currently working on Batti Gul Meter Chaluand Arjun Reddy Remake.