Irrfan Khan opts out of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Gustakhiyan starring PeeCee?

Mumbai: The Sahir Ludhianvi biopic- ‘Gustakhiyan’ to be produced by Sanjay Leela Bhansali had zeroed down on Irrfan Khan to play the central character of Sahir Ludhianvi, and Priyanka Chopra as Amrita Pritam.

However, according to a daily, Irrfan Khan has opted out of this film owing date issues.

Whereas, Priyanka Chopra, too has commenced shooting for her second Hollywood project- ‘A Kid Like Jake,’ and hasn’t yet allotted her dates for SLB’s project, and ‘Padmavati’ has occupied Sanjay Leela Bhansali from all rounds.

The latest reports suggest that Abhishek Bachchan is being considered for this film, and if this cast works out then this would be Priyanka and Abhishek’s second outing after Karan Johar’s ‘Dostana.’

When Irrfan was taken on board as Sahir, he had excitingly said, “I am waiting to play Sahir. I don’t know whether I am the best choice for the role. But I do know that I am willing to invest my entire being into getting it right.”

The actor confesses that he’s a huge Sahir fan. “Before him, romantic songs were written in a particular way. Then this man came along and completely changed the idiom and style of romantic expression. He wrote, “Maine tumse hi nahin sabse mohabbat ki hai,” for a film called 'Didi.' Sahir wrote poetry that expressed the hope and aspirations of the generation that came after Independence. Now we’ve accepted the defeat of that hope. The biggest defeat is our acceptance of the foreign model of existence,” he says.

Earlier there were even reports of actors- Shah Rukh Khan and Farhan Akhtar being considered for this role.

Well, with Priyanka caught up with her Hollywood project, SLB tied with ‘Padmavati’ and no lead actor, we wonder if ‘Gustakhiyan’ will go on floors soon.