THIS heroine who romanced Sanjay Dutt will play his mother Nargis Dutt's role in his biopic!

Filmmaker Rajkumar Hirani has roped in Manisha Koirala to play Nargis' role in the Sanjay Dutt biopic. She will be playing mother to Ranbir Kapoor, who plays Sanjay in the film, reports a tabloid.

Hirani is quoted saying, "We were thinking of many actresses. And while Manisha is really pretty and a fantastic actress, my primary reason for taking her is that she's a cancer survivor and, having been through the journey herself, can identify with Nargisji's fight with the Big C."

In 2012, Manisha was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer and was treated at New York's Sloan-Kettering Cancer Centre where Nargis was admitted, too. Manisha was last seen in Chehre, a period film. The actress has acted in several films co-starring Sanjay including Kartoos, Sanam and Mehbooba.