Sanjay Leela Bhansali takes on Shakespeare

In an interview with Mumbai Mirror, Sanjay Leela Bhansali had revealed that his next venture, the script of which was already in place, will be a 'dhin tadak' film unlike his recent ventures into darker cinema. "I am making a musical film with a lot of romance," the filmmaker had said. And now, Mirror has learnt that the romantic saga will be none other than an adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

While rumours suggested that Bhansali would be making his long awaited Bajirao Mastani or Heera Mandi or Padmavati, a source close to the filmmaker revealed that SLB has finally zeroed down on the famous love saga instead. This film will be based in Gujarat and Bhansali intends to start the pre production in April.

Our source informed that the filmmaker is now keen on casting Kareena Kapoor and Ranveer Singh as the two protagonists in his adaptation of Romeo and Juliet. "Sanjay Leela Bhansali has already discussed his plans with Kareena. He is now awaiting her reply. He is yet to speak to Ranveer about his intentions to cast him in the film," added the source.

Interestingly, Bhansali's friend-turned-foe Ismail Darbar is also in the process of making his own adaptation of the Shakespeare classic. "Bhansali has already started getting his team together for the pre production. Since the film is based in Gujarat, the production will take a lot of time. Bhansali will make an announcement about his venture soon," informed the source.

Bhansali, who had earlier stated in his interview with Mirror that he was no more in the Saawariya, Guzaarish and Black space anymore also said that he wanted to make a 'fun movie' next with a 'lot of masti'. However, when we asked him about his next venture, the filmmaker chose not to comment. And his spokesperson denied the news.