Kareena Kapoor, Dhanush to star in Bhansali’s next, says S Mithran: ‘Looking at the dates’

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Adding to the intrigue around the project is the reported involvement of Kareena Kapoor. Kareena and Bhansali had a major rift back in the early 2000s when he tested her for Devdas, but cast Aishwarya Rai Bachchan as Paro. In a chat with Filmfare in 2002, Kareena said, “What he did to me was wrong. He screen-tested me for Devdas, gave me a signing amount, then took someone else. That was wrong, it hurt especially because I was at the start of my career.”

Bhansali, however, gave another version of the story and said that Kareena approachd him for the role, and he set up a test shoot for her as he had not seen her work until then. He emphasised that he made it clear that the test shoot was not a confirmation for being cast. “After going through the photographs, I told Kareena that I felt Aishwarya Rai was fabulous and perfect for Paro; she has the aristocratic looks I required. Kareena didn’t say a word then but some days later I found her lashing out at me in print. She accused me of backing out after having given her the signing amount and contract. Believe me, this is not true.”

Kareena has not been officially signed for the role, and no announcement has been made from her side. She is currently attached to Daayra, Meghna Gulzar’s crime thriller co-starring Prithviraj Sukumaran, which is scheduled for release on September 18.

For Dhanush, the project would add another major Hindi film to a slate that has increasingly moved between Tamil and Bollywood. He recently had a major hit in Bollywood with Aanand L Rai’s 2025 film Tere Ishk Mein.