Romeo aur Juliet

Vishal Bhardwaj's passion for adapting Shakespearean plays into Hindi films continues. After Maqbool (based on Macbeth) and Omkara (an adaptation of Othello), the director's latest venture is based on Shakespeare's immortal love story . Shahid Kapur will play Romeo.

Our source says, “Vishal has wanted to adapt Romeo and Juliet for a long time, even before Maqbool and Omkara. Yet he ended up making Maqbool first, then Omkara.”

Incidentally, after Omkara, Vishal launched Julia, based on the life of actress Mary Evans, better known as Fearless Nadia, the yesteryear stunt queen. He had even screen-tested German actress Franka Potente for the title role of Julia. The film, however, was shelved.

“Vishal and UTV had a fallout over the budget of the film. He had no option but to abandon the film. With Julia being shelved, Vishal has thought of beginning work on Romeo and Juliet once again.

Vishal has seen Buz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet starring Leonoardo Di Caprio and Claire Danes, set in modern times. Vishal too plans to set his film in modern times,” the source said.

While Shahid Kapur has been roped in to play Romeo, Vishal is yet to zero in on his Juliet. Our source, however, says, “Priyanka Chopra is being considered to play Juliet's role.”

Vishal Bhardwaj was unavailable for comment.

Interestingly, there have been 32 adaptations of Romeo and Juliet to date, Buz Luhrmann's film being the last one.

Parag Maniar and Bharati Dubey, Mumbai Mirror