Shedding Bollywood tag? Priyanka Chopra prefers Chris Pratt movie over Sanjay Leela Bhansali's next

About a year ago, speculations were rife that Priyanka Chopra would play female gangster Gangubai Kothewali, who was also known as the Madame of Kamathipura in a film to be made by Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Around the same time, Vishal Bhardwaj also announced a film on a woman gangster that would star Deepika Padukone. What made it interesting was that both the actresses starred in SLB’s Bajirao Mastani. Priyanka played Bajirao’s (Ranveer Singh) wife Kashibai while Deepika essayed the role of his lover Mastani. And many years ago, the Rangoon director had met the Padmaavat maker with a script on reincarnation, which he wanted the latter to direct, but it didn’t materialise.

However, both the outings have been put on the back burner. While Vishal has deferred his movie after Irrfan (who plays an important role in the protagonist’s quest for revenge) was diagnosed with neuro-endocrine tumour and went overseas for treatment, Bhansali’s plans of Gangubai have gone awry after Priyanka opted out of it. Industry sources tell us that Salman Khan’s Bharat was not the only casualty after the Quantico actress opted out at the last minute. “SLB was keen to make Gangubai with PC. But after she signed up for her next Hollywood film, Cowboy Ninja Viking opposite Chris Pratt, she’s not doing the gangster flick and he’s put off his plans of making it in the near future,” says our informer.