Ranbir Kapoor, Varun Dhawan in Arif Ali’s second film?

Imtiaz Ali’s brother Arif Ali, who directed Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, is ready to start work on his second film, a musical saga titled Sitaarey, supposedly based on two top male Bollywood singers of the 1970s (doesn’t take a genius to figure out who the two would be: Kishore Kumar and Mohd Rafi).

Says a source, “The film will reveal a tale of innocence set in a self-consumed, conniving environment. The casting is yet to be complete but the the team is looking at names like Ranbir Kapoor, Arjun Kapoor and Varun Dhawan to play the main leads. Buzz is that the film has been inspired by the lives of two great male singing legends of that era — friends, yet competitors as far as their singing was concerned.”

Arif says, “I was struck by the simplicity of the concept. The narrative will flourish through our screenplay and songs.”

Co-producer Arjun N Kapoor adds, “Every nuance of this musical saga is being meticulously planned to re-create the period this film belongs to.”

The film goes on floors early 2016.