Sonali Joshi Pitale (MID-DAY; June 23, 2016)

Commercial cinema seems to be beckoning Vicky Kaushal, who made an impactful debut last year with the critically-acclaimed Masaan and has been part of two more offbeat projects — Zubaan, which released in March this year, and upcoming film, Raman Raghav 2.0. Buzz doing the industry rounds suggests that the 28-year-old actor has been signed by National Award-winning director Sanjay Leela Bhansali for his next, a period drama on Queen Padmavati.

Says a source, “Bhansali is in the process of finalising the cast for Padmavati and has been meeting a few actors. He is looking for a relatively fresh the role of king Rawal Ratan Singh, husband of the Mewar queen, and Vicky is one of the top contenders. Bhansali is quite impressed with the young actor’s work and is keen to cast him as the king.” The film, an anti-hero project, will revolve around ruthless ruler Alauddin Khilji’s obsession with the Mewar queen. While casting for these two roles hasn’t been done yet, there is strong buzz that Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone, who paired up for SLB’s Goliyon Ki Ras-Leela: Ram Leela (2013) and Bajirao Mastani (2015), will be signed for this project too.

At the moment, however, the filmmaker has turned his focus on casting other important characters. “Vicky has met Bhansali and discussed the project. He is keen to do this film since it is a big opportunity for him. However, things are yet to be finalised and an official announcement in this regard will be made soon,” a source associated with the film says.

SLB and Vicky remained unavailable for comment. The filmmaker has already blocked December 2017 for Padmavati’s release.