After Karan Johar, Sanjay Leela Bhansali to take over Immortals of Meluha?

Karan Johar's contract with Amish Tripathi, back in 2014, set off a wave of excitement among film and book lovers. The Ae Dil Hai Mushkil director signed a contract to adapt the bestselling novel, The Immortals of Meluha, into a film.

However, since then, Johar's project has failed to materialise beyond the concept. The director has since put the film on the backburner. Now, reports have emerged that with the contract set to expire, Tripathi is keen to sign on Sanjay Leela Bhansali for the project.

Bhansali, who has adapted Romeo and Juliet, the Marathi novel Rau by Nagnath S Inamdar, and Devdas (2002), is keen on taking on the mythology based epic after his current, Padmavati.

Although neither Bhansali's team nor Dharma Productions have put out any responses, tabloid Mid-Day quoted a source as saying, "His (Johar's) contract with Karan expired recently, so Dharma had to surrender the rights to the book."

With Johar taking on several projects, including Student of the Year 2 and the long delayed Shuddhi, it looks like Tripathi's adaptation will have to wait.

As for Bhansali, the director is battling to complete the epic Padmavati with Ranveer Singh, Shahid Kapoor and Deepika Padukone after a long fight with several political elements.

Hopefully, he is able to take up The Immortals of Meluha without someone finding it too offensive.