Bhansali’s Next With Salman Is Not A Costume Drama

 The rumours  doing the rounds of  the Khan superstar Salman are  true. Sanjay LeelaBhansali is indeed  directing  Salman.However  the  reports of  the two getting together to do a costume drama are wrong.

Laughs a  close friend  of  Salman, “Sure,Bhansali is known by his  costume  dramas. But  he has  not directed Salman  in even one costume drama. Khamoshi, Hum…Dil De Chuke Sanam and Saawariya were  not  costume/period film. Their new  film together is  a contemporary  love story.”

More than  the  casting itself , it is the reason behind the  casting that seems  interesting. If the  truth be told, neither of the Khans Shah  Rukh or Salman, is a force they once used  to be. Shah Rukh  has had a string of  failures including his last two releases  Jab Harry MetSejal and  Zero. Salman’s last film Race  3 underperformed  miserably.

The last thing Bhansali would need at the moment is to direct a fading superstar.

But then there is a school of thought that feels the Khans still have a long way to go,  andBhansali belongs  to  that school of thought. He has worked  , and worked wonders, with both Shah Rukh and Salman  in Devdas and  Hum…Dil De Chuke Sanam, respectively.

Sources say  the  script that Bhansali has in mind for Salman was evolving  for a  long time.He would have made this particular subject only with Salman ,  or not at all.

More  importantly, after  Ram Leela, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat,  Bhansali needs a break the Costume Drama and the Ranveer-Deepika pairing?

Really,  for how long can he rattle the sabre without the edge blunting?  Bhansali has done all he  could  for now  with the  period genre and  with the Ranveer-Deepika  cast.

It is  time to move on. And what context and pretext to do so than SLB-Salman  combination which, trade experts say, can still shake the  boxoffice if given the   right  creative stir.