Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone will co-star for the second time (courtesy YouTube)
Highlights
- "We know Irrfan will conquer this battle," tweeted the director
- "I have decided to reschedule our film," he added
- "When our warrior returns as a winner," he also wrote
Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone's new movie has been postponed and will now go on floors once till the 51-year-old actor is back in form. Just a weekend after Irrfan Khan revealed
he's suffering from neuroendocrine tumour, director Vishal Bhardwaj tweeted to say that the much-talked about project will only roll when "our warrior returns as a winner". "Irrfan is a warrior and we know he will conquer this battle. Therefore Deepika Padukone, Prernaa, Kriarj Entertainments and I have decided to reschedule our film and start with renewed energy..." he added. Mr Bhardwaj's project will be a second collaboration for Deepika and Irrfan, who famously co-starred in the critically acclaimed
Piku.
On Friday,
Irrfan tweeted to say that the "rare disease" he has been diagnosed with is neuroendocrine tumour and that he will travel abroad for treatment. Earlier this month, he had spoken about having "contracted a rare disease." Read Irrfan's posts here:
In a Facebook post last month, Mr Bhardwaj had declared that the film has been rescheduled but had not exactly mentioned the changed date. "I am pushing back the film by a few months as both of my lead actors are down with different health problems," read a part of his post. Deepika has reportedly been advised to lighten her work load as she is recuperating from severe back pain and wears a back strap. It appears, just like everybody else, the director was also unaware of Irrfan's medical condition because this is what he had mentioned:
Mr Bhardwaj's movie is speculated to be a biopic on mafia queen Sapna Didi but the director clearly dismissed that in the above mentioned Facebook post: "I would also like to clear that the film is still untitled and is not based on Rahima Khan/Sapna Didi's life. Yes, it's a take-off from the story Femme Fatale from Hussain Zaidi's book Mafia Queens of Mumbai but as we worked on this idea, the story and screenplay have taken on a new identity and shape which is nowhere close to the above-mentioned names. Hence, it's definitely not a biopic."
Irrfan Khan was last seen in
Qarib Qarib Singlle and
Blackmail, a movie he's completed already, releases on April 6. "
Padmaavat" was Deepika Padukone's last movie.