Bollywood filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali has almost finished his ongoing project ‘Padmavati’ with Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone and Shahid Kapoor in the lead roles.

But, who were the first actors approached by director?- definitely not these younger lot! It was Salman Khan and ever-gorgeous Aishwarya Rai who got to hear this script from Sanjay for the first time. But, why it didn’t materialize and why the ‘Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam’ pair could not collaborate? Read on…

According to a Bollywood article, Mrs Aishwarya Rai was ready to essay Padmavati role on the condition that if Salman plays antagonist (Alauddin Khilji) role in the film so that she cannot share screen space with him. But, this condition by Aishwarya Rai was turned down by Salman as wasn’t ready to do the grey role.

Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who must’ve been thrilled to cast the ex-lovers, was taken aback after the actors backed out of the project. Even after starting Padmavati, the top filmmaker was troubled by few Hindu outfits as they attacked him and damaged shooting sets too. That’s what led Sanjay to choose Shahid Kapoor for ‘Raja Rawal Ratan’ role and Deepika for the title role.