It’s been 14 years since Devdas released and now finally the duo of Shah Rukh Khan-Sanjay Leela Bhansali is all set to work with each other again. After mind-boggling performances in Devdas, many fans wanted Shah Rukh Khan and Sanjay Leela Bhansali to team up again for another magnum opus.
SRK and SLB will be working together for the second time in Urdu poet-lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi’s biopic. The grapevine has it that Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s script on the late poet lyricist’s biopic has elicited the superstar’s nod. The duo collaborated in Devdas and now they could come together again in 2018.
Earlier, Irrfan and Fawad Khan were also approached for the role.
Earlier Irrfan Khan’s name was being thrown into the fray and then Fawad Khan’s name started doing the rounds many as to who’d play Urdu poet-lyricist Sahir Ludhianvi in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ambitious biopic announced in 2015. Titled Gustakhiyan, the film will trace Sahir’s relationship with poetess-novelist Amrita Pritam before he went on to court singer-actress Sudha Malhotra.
Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone are also said to be in pipeline on Shah Rukh Khan-Sanjay Leela Bhansali comeback movie.
There were rumours that Priyanka Chopra is in the competition to play Amrita and then Deepika Padukone joined the race too. But, all rumours were put to rest when Bhansali announced Padmavati.
Now, he has finalised Shah Rukh to play Sahir on the big screen. Talking about it, a source close to the development stated, “Bhansali and SRK met late one night last week and the filmmaker handed over the complete script of the biopic to SRK, telling him that he would like to direct him in 2018.”
They further stated, “There is a lot of poetry in the film and SRK has been reading Sahir’s ghazals and nazms. Bhansali and SRK have been spending a lot of time together lately, discussing work and cinema.”
A Li’l information about the poet Sahir Ludianvi
Sahir, real name Abdul Hayee, was linked with many women through the 1950s-70s but he never married. The film also details Sahir’s stint in Hindi films, which earned him his first Filmfare Award for his work in Taj Mahal in 1963. It was followed by another Black Lady for Best Lyrics for Kabhie Kabhie 13 years later.
A heavy drinker and smoker, Sahir passed away at the age of 59 in the presence of his close lyricist friend Javed Akhtar. The end will be a part of Bhansali’s narrative and, according to the source, the filmmaker is planning an extremely poetic approach to the film.
