Every collaboration has its own destiny. In 2024, filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali and South star Ram Charan planned to join forces for a period drama based on author Amish Tripathi’s Legend of Suheldev, but the project didn’t materialise. Is second time the charm? That’s what the duo is hoping. mid-day has learnt that Charan will headline Bhansali’s next production, a historical adventure drama set in a jungle.

A bit of digging revealed that the project has its roots in Rowdy Rathore 2, which Bhansali was to produce. A source told us, “Originally KV Vijayendra Prasad had written the script for Rowdy Rathore 2, but that didn’t shape up as expected. So, taking that material as the starting point, the story was rewritten by Gullak 2 and Shakti Shalini writer Durgesh Singh. The story is essentially a jungle adventure drama, but set in the past. The script has been adapted to suit Ram’s personality. It will be helmed by a top Bollywood director.”

In February, Sanjay Leela Bhansali also announced his production, ‘Jai Somnath’, to be helmed by Ketan Mehta

It’s being mounted as a pan-India film, to be made in Hindi and dubbed in Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil, and Kannada. The source added, “Bhansali and Ram Charan were earlier in talks for the story of Maharaja Suheldev. While that didn’t work out, this is an equally ambitious project.”