Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ambitious musical epic Baiju Bawra has once again become a topic of much chatter in Bollywood circles. Having been kept in suspension for years now, with focus shifting elsewhere more often than not, the project seems finally back on track — and this time, it may just have discovered its star man in Ranbir Kapoor.
As per a recent update by Deccan Chronicle, SLB has “gifted” Baiju Bawra to Ranbir on his birthday today, i.e., his 43rd birthday, in what is a massive development for a film that has been in the pipeline for over two decades. A source disclosed that Ranbir, a music connoisseur of vintage Hindi cinema, has an emotional attachment to the original film of 1952. “Ranbir begins his days listening to the music of the golden age, the original Baiju Bawra being one of them. He’s even exposing his daughter, Raha, to this classic music,” the insider revealed.
The original Baiju Bawra, which came out in 1952, featured Bharat Bhushan and Meena Kumari and the tale of a young singer who dares to defy the great Tansen in Emperor Akbar’s court. SLB’s take is rumored to be a lush musical remake with two competing singers at its core and will hopefully be one of the most musically lavish and visually sumptuous projects on the director’s resume to date.
The casting of the film has remained a hot topic of speculation. Names such as Ranveer Singh, Alia Bhatt, Deepika Padukone, and Ajay Devgn have been associated with the project at various times. Ranveer was actually said to be preparing for the role before SLB switched gears to Heeramandi and Love and War. There was never any confirmation, though, from the filmmaker about the cast finalization.
An earlier story even stated that Ranbir was hesitant to work with Bhansali once more following their not-so-ideal pairing on Saawariya (2007). But insiders subsequently denied this, saying Ranbir had never officially rejected Baiju Bawra, nor had the offer been extended to him until recently. It was also made clear that the sole SLB project Ranbir ever turned down was actually Guzaarish.
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Pre-production on Baiju Bawra has gone into stealth mode so far, and the movie is likely to go into active development once SLB completes work on Love and War, in which Ranbir also stars with Alia Bhatt and Vicky Kaushal.
With SLB directing and Ranbir likely returning to assist the master filmmaker, Baiju Bawra has the potential to rank among the most eagerly anticipated film spectacles of the decade.
