# Kareena set for first Bhansali film after two near-misses 2026-08-22T22:19:50+00:00 | Entertainment | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 2 independent outlets Kareena Kapoor Khan is in talks to star opposite Dhanush in a Sanjay Leela Bhansali production. The film, directed by PS Mithran, is described as a mythological jungle adventure. It would be Kareena's first collaboration with Bhansali after two earlier attempts fell through. Odishatv.in reports that Kareena was cast as Paro in Devdas in the early 2000s but later lost the role to Aishwarya Rai, and she was attached to Bhansali's Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela before exiting days before filming began. Bhansali has said the Devdas audition was never a casting guarantee. Kareena has disputed that account. m9.news reports that discussions are ongoing and dates are being checked, with pre-production expected in January 2027. The outlet notes that some netizens question the film's potential due to its subject's similarity to S.S. Rajamouli's upcoming film Varanasi, while others see Dhanush's Hindi audience as an asset. Casting has not been officially confirmed. ## Indian Opinion Analysis The sources differ sharply in tone. odishatv.in takes a neutral-report stance, laying out the casting history and quoting both Kareena Kapoor and Sanjay Leela Bhansali on the Devdas dispute without favouring either account. m9.news is sensationalist, framing the collaboration as a potential box office problem because its jungle-mythology subject resembles S.S. Rajamouli's upcoming film Varanasi, and it leans heavily on netizen speculation and trade experts' call for a release gap. odishatv.in omits any box-office concern, m9.news omits the actors' old quotes. The careful reader should note that no official confirmation exists, and the only concrete next step is pre-production expected in January 2027, far too early for release-timing comparisons. ## Coverage Coverage: 2 sources, 1 neutral, 1 sensationalist - odishatv.in (neutral report) Leads with the Devdas dispute, gives both sides quotes, frames as casting history - m9.news (sensationalist) Leads with box office risk from subject similarity to Varanasi, relies on netizen views This story was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 2 sources. Last updated 2026-08-24T05:41:45+00:00. Tags: Devdas, Dhanush, Goliyon Ki Raasleela Ram-Leela, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Sanjay Leela Bhansali Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/kareena-kapoor-in-talks-for-sanjay-leela-bhansali-film-with-dhanush/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/kareena-kapoor-in-talks-for-sanjay-leela-bhansali-film-with-dhanush/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/