More than a month after audiences saw him in the intense thriller ‘Haiwaan’, Saif Ali Khan is stepping into the world of a period drama. mid-day has learnt that the actor is collaborating with filmmaker Ritesh Batra of ‘The Lunchbox’ (2013) fame for his next film.

“The film has been in pre-production for some time. Both Saif and Ritesh are huge admirers of each other’s work. And Saif is the perfect fit for Ritesh’s soft, subtle stories,” reveals a source.

The project is set to go on floors later this week in Mumbai. Sources say the team plans to shoot on a tight schedule and “wrap up the intimate period drama in one go”.

Apart from the yet-untitled drama, Batra is also putting the finishing touches to the first two episodes of the upcoming Netflix series ‘Unaccustomed Earth’, starring Freida Pinto and Siddharth.

Batra was previously set to helm a cross-country romance starring Anil Kapoor, which was later put on hold. While details of his film with Khan remain under wraps, it is unclear whether the period drama is the same project.