Last Saturday, Shah Rukh Khan lauded the state government's diktat to multiplexes to screen Marathi films between the 12 noon and 9 pm slot saying “its wonderful timing“. The government had earlier demanded one screen in the 6 pm to 9 pm slot for Marathi films but revised the decision following a meeting between Cultural Affairs Minister Vinod Tawde and representatives of multiplexes and Marathi film producers. SRK agreed that allowing “freedom of 12 hours is good“ and admitted that he was producing a couple of Marathi films.

Earlier in 2013, the star producer had announced that Rohit Shetty had an idea for a Marathi film which he would like to produce. Now, Mirror has learnt that Rohit and SRK will jointly produce the film which will directed by Sanjay Jadhav who will be reuniting in his Duniyadari cast. Says a source close to the development, “It will have Swapnil Joshi and Sai Tamhankar in the lead, along with Urmila Kanitkar and Ankush Choudhary. However unlike Sanjay's 2013 emotional drama, this one will be more of a masala action-comedy in Rohit Shetty mould. The story by Sanjay immediately struck a chord with Rohit. They haven't set a timeline yet but the project is definitely on.“

Earlier, SRK had said that he could make a guest appearance in the film if needed. When quizzed on this, the source added, “If SRK agrees to do the film I'm sure the writer-director and his co-producer will be more than happy to accommodate him.“

Meanwhile, Sanjay Leela Bhansali who is busy shooting Bajirao Mastani which will clash with SRK and Rohit's Dilwale this Christmas, is also gearing up to produce a Marathi film. And the connection doesn't end there. Apparently, SLB too wants Swapnil Joshi to spearhead the cast of his film.

Shobha Iyer Sant, the CEO of his production house, confirmed this, saying, “Yes, SLB Productions is definitely going to be exploring the regional space in a big way. And yes, we are in talks with Swapnil but it's too early to go into details.“

When we contacted the actor in demand, he wasn't willing to go beyond a “no comments“ but one could hear the smile in his voice.