Don 3, the third instalment of Excel Entertainment’s Don (2006) franchise, is one upcoming project that keeps hitting headlines every now and then. Rumours were rife lately that Shah Rukh Khan, who played the titular role in Don and Don 2 (2011), would return to the franchise to take it forward.
However, if fresh reports doing the rounds are anything to go by, Khan has opted out of the hotly anticipated project and Ranveer Singh, who recently worked with Excel Entertainment on Gully Boy (2019), has come onboard to replace the superstar.
A leading tabloid reports that Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani wanted to retain Shah Rukh Khan in Don 3, but the actor bowed out of the movie citing personal reasons. After his exit, the makers approached Ranveer Singh to step into his shoes.
Talking about the female lead, Katrina Kaif, who was last seen opposite Shah Rukh Khan in Aanand L Rai’s Zero (2018), may join Ranveer Singh on the cast of the film. An official announcement is awaited though.
Interestingly, Don 3 is not the only project Khan has opted out of in the past few months. After the release of Zero in December last year, the superstar was set to begin work on Siddharth Roy Kapur and Ronnie Screwvala’s Saare Jahan Se Achcha, a biopic on Indian astronaut Rakesh Sharma. However, he chose to quit the project months before it was ready to take off.
Khan is now, reportedly, in talks with National Film Award-winning filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar for a film called Inspector Ghalib. Set in Uttar Pradesh, the movie revolves around the sand-mining mafia. However, the project is yet to be confirmed officially.