Three of Bollywood’s top female actors coming together for a movie—that was reason enough for fans, yearning for more women-led buddy films, to look forward to Jee Le Zaraa. But no ambitious film is without its hurdles. It has been almost two years since director Farhan Akhtar announced the project with Priyanka Chopra Jonas, Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt in lead roles, but matching the three actors’ dates has been an uphill task.

With Chopra now committed to Citadel 2, the makers are looking for an actor to join Kaif and Bhatt. So, who is Akhtar’s choice to complete the trio? From what we hear, Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Sources tell us that a few weeks ago, Kapoor was offered the role. She was an obvious choice considering she is among the biggest superstars in Hindi cinema today. “While Kareena loved the story, she had to give the film a pass. She is already leading an all-woman project in The Crew with Tabu and Kriti Sanon, and didn’t want to repeat the template with Jee Le Zaraa. At this stage, she wants to be part of novel stories belonging to different genres,” says a source.

Additionally, there were date issues for Kapoor, which was Chopra’s problem too. Chopra, who leads Citadel with Richard Madden, is said to be shooting the second season later this year. She was able to allot dates to Jee Le Zaraa only in 2024, which clashed with Bhatt, who would be busy with Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Baiju Bawra then.

With Akhtar keen to take the road-trip drama on floors later this year, Kapoor would not have been able to accommodate it. The source adds, “Kareena is committed to another project that rolls by the year-end. Plus, she will have extensive promotions lined up for Sujoy Ghosh’s The Devotion of Suspect X and her yet-untitled next with Hansal Mehta.”

Kapoor’s team remained unavailable for comment.