Bhansali not doing a film with Hrithik Roshan, Salman Khan or Shah Rukh Khan

The media can’t seem to make up its mind about which Bollywood A-lister Sanjay Leela Bhansali plans to work with next. One report says that Hrithik Roshan recently met with the director to discuss a proposed project, another hints that Salman, during the promotions of Race 3, went on the record to state that he would be doing a film with Bhansali, and a third says that Shah Rukh Khan was seen in the company of the Padmaavat director.

However, sources close to Bhansali assert that he has no projects with any of the three superstars in the pipeline.

“These reports are highly premature. Sanjay hasn’t even decided what he’s going to direct next. Right now he’s busy producing his niece Sharmin’s film,” the source says.

Bhansali’s upcoming production is a love story, which, according to sources, goes far beyond the boy-meets-girl trope. It stars two new-comers – Javed Jaffrey’s son Mizaan Jaffrey and Bhansali’s niece Sharmin Segal, and it is being helmed by the gifted Marathi director Mangesh Hadawale, whose yet-unreleased film Dekh Indian Circus is said to feature Nawazuddin Siddiqui delivering his career’s best performance.

While debutant Mizaan is undergoing rigorous training to prepare for his part, Sharmin has attended acting school in New York.

Sharmin is the daughter of Sanjay’s sister Bela Segal, who has edited a majority of Bhansali’s films and directed the Boman Irani-Farah Khan comedy Shirin Farhad Ki Toh Nikal Padi. Sharmin’s grandfather Mohan Segal, was also a well-known filmmaker of the 1970’s. He was the man who introduced Rekha to the silver screen in Sawan Bhadon.