Deepika Padukone May Be Salman Khan's Heroine In Kick 2: Reports

Salman Khan and Deepika Padukone on the sets of Bigg Boss.

Actress Deepika Padukone has reportedly been approached to play the female lead opposite Salman Khan in Kick 2, reports Bollywood Hungama. A source close to producer Sajid Nadiadwala told Bollywood Hungama: "If you remember, Deepika was the first choice for Kick (more on that later). But somehow it didn't work out. Jacqueline was brought in and Kick changed the course of her career." On the type of role Deepika will be playing in the film, the source said: "Deepika can't play just a typical Salman heroine. Her role has to be as powerful as Salman's. Sajid is working on it, injecting heft into the female lead."

Earlier a source told BollywoodLife, that because Jacqueline is starring opposite Salman Khan in Race 3, the makers of Kick 2 want to re-cast the female lead in their film. "As Jacqueline and Salman are already working together in Race 3, it only makes sense to give audience a fresh pairing," the source had said.

For the uninitiated, Salman Khan had offered Deepika her first Bollywood film but the actress had declined the offer then and she was launched few years later by Shah Rukh Khan and Farah Khan in 2007's Om Shanti Om.

"He offered me my first film when I was too young and I was not ready to be in front of the camera. I will always be grateful to him. Just the fact that he offered me a film was a great thing. It is taking a long time for us to come together on screen, so I think there is something special waiting for us," Deepika told news agency PTI, when she was promoting Ram Leela in 2013.

Kick 2 is the sequel to 2014's blockbuster Kick, which featured Jacqueline Fernandez opposite Salman Khan. Unlike Kick, which released on Eid 2014, Kick 2 is expected to release this year on Christmas. Not only Christmas, Salman Khan has also booked Eid, as he will release his upcoming movie Bharat on the occasion.