Before Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone; Bajirao Mastani was announced with these two superstars in 70s, it got shelved

Directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali, the epic historical romance drama Bajirao Mastani revolves around the love story of the Maratha Peshwa Bajirao I and his second wife, Mastani. In the 2015 film, Ranveer Singh and Deepika Padukone portrayed Bajirao I and Mastani, whereas Priyanka Chopra played Bajirao's first wife Kashibai.

Before Bhansali, Manmohan Desai had announced to make the film on Bajirao and Mastani's love story with the same title in the 1970s. He had signed Rajesh Khanna and Hema Malini to play the titular roles, and even released the poster of the film but before even the first scene was shot, the project was shelved due to unknown reasons. 

In the poster which is now a part of vintage collection, we can see that Laxmikant-Pyarelal were supposed to compose the music of the film and Anand Bakshi was signed as the lyricist. Kader Khan would have written the dialogues for the film. Rajesh and Hema were promoted in the poster as, "The stars of today, The star-crossed lovers of yesterday."

Coming back to Ranveer and Deepika-starrer Bajirao Mastani, the film was made on a budget of Rs 145 crore and grossed Rs 263 crore in India and Rs 362 crore worldwide (as per the entertainment tracking portal Sacnilk). It also won seven National Film Awards including Best Direction to Sanjay Leela Bhansali. The historical drama also starred Tanvi Azmi, Milind Soman, Mahesh Manjrekar, Aditya Pancholi, Raza Murad, and Vaibhav Tatwawadi in supporting roles.

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