Scoop: Sanjay Leela Bhansali Teams Up With Salman Khan  For An Intense Love Story

Bollywood ’s most distinguished war of creative differences is now over. Filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali andSalman Khan locked in an  intense cold war for the last five years—so intense was the animosity that when SLB’s sister Bela Sehgal invited Salman Khan to see her directorial debut he had replied, ‘Anything for you. But not for that so-and-so’—have finally shaken hands, hugged made peace and agreed to work together in another film.

The peace -making process began a year back when Bhansali and Khan met  at the latter’s residence for a possible project together.

Sources close to them say SLB and Salman have been in touch since then. When recently SLB’s shooting ofPadmavati was disrupted in Rajasthan Salman was one of the first to call and inquire about his  one-time best-friend’s wellbeing.

And now Salman Khan and Sanjay Bhansali have agreed to work together in a film that promises to be “theDevdas of the new millennium.”An intense love story with dark undertones, it will be the ultimate olive branch from the  director who fell out with the superstar when Bhansali offered  Devdas  to Shah Rukh Khan.

Salman who  propped up Bhansali’s talent  from the time of  the director’s debut in Khamoshi: The Musical felt betrayed when Devdas went to his fiercest rival.

The new love story which will be shot immediately after Padmavati is completed will mark the renewal of the one of Bollywood ’s most influential  director-actor team that gave us Khamoshi The Musical, Hum….Dil DeChuke Sanam and Saawariya. It  also signals the culmination of the Ranveer-Deepika collaboration withBhansali that yielded the trilogy of Goliyon Ki Raas Leela Ram Leela, Bajirao Mastani and the forthcomingPadmavati.

The SLB-Salman collabaration of 2018 will feature a fresh face with the superstar. Deepika Padukone with whom Salman’s pairing remains  yet untried is  a very strong contender.