Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who reportedly wasn’t too keen on having a ‘married’ Juliet as the female lead in Ram Leela, has finally found his heroine. Deepika Padukone will now be seen romancing Ranveer Singh in the filmmaker’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s famous play.
After Kareena Kapoor left the project, due to ‘contractual differences’, the filmmaker reportedly wanted Priyanka Chopra and later Katrina Kaif to play the role.
An insider revealed that since the female lead needed to be fair, Kat was a strong contender. But Dippy, however, clinched the deal. A source close to the project revealed, “Bhansali wanted an A list heroine to play Leela. He approached Katrina but she did not have dates. Deepika was the only one with available dates for the project. Bhansali was only too happy to have her.”
Interestingly, Deepika’s dates did not come too easily. The actress apparently gave the dates she had allotted for the Ekta Kapoor – Karan Johar joint venture to Bhansali. “The other project was taking too much time. The script wasn’t ready. So Deepika simply transferred her dates to Bhansali’s film,” another source told us.
Meanwhile, Ranveer is unperturbed with the entire struggle to find his leading lady. He has finished a long workshop in Gujarat understanding the character and is waiting for Bhansali to take the film on floors.
