Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; July 3, 2017)

Sanjay Leela Bhansali and Priyanka Chopra’s next production Gustaakhiyaan, which brings the story of the Urdu poet Sahir Ludhianvi and poet-novelist Amrita Pritam to life on celluloid, still doesn’t have a leading man. While PC is in the leading role, for the male lead, SRK was the first choice and Irrfan Khan was the second. They both couldn’t do the film for various reasons. And then the team initiated talks with Abhishek Bachchan.

AB, too, isn’t likely to be part of the film. Even though he hasn’t given the nod yet, a source reveals, “Priyanka wants an actor who hasn’t done a period film before. Abhishek has done Umrao Jaan (2006) with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. Since PC is co-producing the film with Bhansali, she expressed her reservations to SLB and they are still on the lookout for someone to play the character of Sahir.”

The film was expected to start this year. PC even finished her costume trials when she was in Mumbai last month. But now, her date schedule has gone haywire. She has signed two big Hollywood films — A Kid Like Jake and a romcom starring Rebel Wilson, Liam Hemsworth and Adam DeVine. Along with this, she has to shoot for Quantico, so Gustakhiyan will be delayed.