EXCLUSIVE: Sanjay Leela Bhansali ropes in Siddhant Chaturvedi and Mrunal Thakur for his next production

In addition to his directorial projects such as Heeramandi and Baiju Bawra, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is set to produce a love story starring Siddhant Chaturvedi and Mrunal Thakur.

By Rahul Raut

Published on Sep 15, 2023 | 01:10 PM IST | 725.6K

EXCLUSIVE: Sanjay Leela Bhansali ropes in Siddhant Chaturvedi and Mrunal Thakur for his next production (Picture Courtesy: Instagram)

Sanjay Leela Bhansali is presently immersed in the shooting of his maiden Netflix series, Heeramandi. The magnum opus, starring Sonakshi Sinha, Manisha Koirala, Aditi Rao Hydari, Sharmin Segal, and Sanjeeda Sheikh, among others, has been in production since last year and is expected to be wrapped up by November. Following this, the maverick filmmaker will commence pre-production for his next feature film, Baiju Bawra, starring Ranveer Singh and Alia Bhatt as leads. While Bhansali has his hands full with directorial duties, the Bajirao Mastani director has been simultaneously working on multiple projects as a producer. We revealed just a few days ago that Bhansali is in talks with Shahid Kapoor for a commercial masala entertainer, and now we have details about yet another project.

Pinkvilla has exclusively learnt that Sanjay Leela Bhansali has roped in Siddhant Chaturvedi and Mrunal Thakur for his next production venture. The details of the project have all been kept under wraps at the moment, but it’s said to be a romance drama that will feature the two young actors sharing screen space together for the first time. Ravi Udyawar, who previously directed the late Sridevi in the National Award-winning film Mom, has been brought on board to helm this movie. Ravi has already directed Siddhant in Excel Entertainment’s action drama, Yudhra, which is set to release in cinemas early next year. The filmmaker is also working on Ramayana with Nitesh Tiwari, but he would be delving into that ambitious three-part epic only after finishing the Bhansali production.

Siddhant and Mrunal to begin Bhansali's film in early 2024

Siddhant and Mrunal will commence shooting for this Ravi Udyawar movie in the first quarter of 2024. Before moving on to this project, Siddhant will wrap up Dharma Productions’ next love story with Triptii Dimri, while Mrunal has several commitments to attend down south. The Super 30 actress has already finished Nani’s Telugu film, Hi Nanna, and is currently filming Vijay Deverakonda’s #VD13. Once she wraps up the latter, she will head to A.R. Murugadoss’ next Tamil action entertainer with Sivakarthikeyan at the end of this year.

On the work front, Siddhant Chaturvedi has two movies in the pipeline that are up for release. He stars alongside Ananya Panday and Adarsh Gourav in Arjun Varain Singh’s friendship story, Kho Gaye Hum Kahan, and also has Excel Entertainment’s Yudhra in his kitty. Mrunal, on the other hand, has Raja Krishna Menon’s war drama, Pippa, and Navjot Gulati’s thriller drama, Pooja Meri Jaan, ready for release, in addition to the three upcoming South Indian projects currently in various stages of production.

We reached out to Siddhant Chaturvedi, Ravi Udyawar, and the representatives of Mrunal Thakur and Sanjay Leela Bhansali for confirmation. However, we are yet to hear back from them.

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