Bajirao Mastani

Bajirao Mastani is a forthcoming Bollywood movie, directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali with music by A. R. Rahman. It is based on the life of Bajirao, his wife Kashibai and his mistress Mastani. It is a true life story.

When conceptualised, Sanjay Leela Bhansali had originally cast Aishwarya Rai for the role of 'Mastani', but personal differences with the lead for Bajirao (Salman Khan) prevented this from happening. Aishwarya Rai was simply unwilling to work with him at all. Bhansali abandoned the project, and went on to make Black.

Eventually later, he found another actress for the role of Mastani, Kareena Kapoor but things could not work out as Bhansali wanted the Salman-Kareena pair to be the first in his movie but Kareena Kapoor had gone to sign Priyadarshan's Kyon Ki starring Salman Khan opposite her.

Bajirao was planned to be released in 2006. As of now, Bajirao Mastani has been put off. Bhansali has begun work on his next film, Saawariya which stars Sonam Kapoor, daughter to Anil Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor, son of Rishi Kapoor.

Recent reports state that Bhansali has revived Bajirao Mastani with London based, supermodel turned actress Shivani Kapoor as Mastani and Salman Khan as Bajirao. The movie is planned to be completed in 2007 after Bhansali finishes work on Saawariya