Deepika Padukone Not In Shah Rukh Khan's Don 3. Priyanka Chopra's Status Unknown

New Delhi: The rumour that actress Deepika Padukone would replace Priyanka Chopra in the third Don film opposite Shah Rukh Khan was busted by producer Ritesh Sidhwani. Speaking to the media at a party to celebrate the success of his new production Fukrey Returns, Mr Sidhwani said succinctly, "Deepika is not part of Don," reports news agency IANS. He did not clarify whether Priyanka was being replaced at all in the third instalment of a series in which she played a pivotal role. The Don films - the first of which released in 2006 - are modern updates of Amitabh Bachchan's 1978 hit. Priyanka was cast as Roma, played in the original by Zeenat Aman.

Some weeks ago, reports in the press suggested that Priyanka would not return to the third film. A source told Deccan Chronicle, "There was a sincere effort from the concerned parties to solve the problem. However it didn't work out. Hence, it's not decided whether the makers will look at another actress like Deepika Padukone to play the female lead. Shah Rukh is the lead and hence indispensable so the actress had to be replaced."

Other news outlets reported that Shah Rukh Khan wanted Deepika, his co-star from Om Shanti Om, Chennai Express and Happy New Year, to play Roma.

All this is fairly academic, however, because by all accounts work on Don 3 hasn't progressed much. "We have started thinking very seriously about Don 3 and we are toying with ideas. We will make it and hopefully it will be very soon," Ritesh Sidhwani told IANS last month - it was pretty much what he'd said a year ago.

At the Fukrey Returns party, he said something similarly generic: "We are working on that and very soon we will announce that also."

We'll wait then. It's been a few years already - Don 2 released in 2011.

(With inputs from IANS)