Salman Khan to romance Deepika Padukone and not Katrina Kaif in 'Tubelight'

Director Kabir Khan has not yet announced the leading lady of his film "Tubelight" starring Salman Khan, but fans can rejoice as reports suggest that Deepika Padukone has finally bagged the project.

Deepika and Katrina Kaif's names had emerged for the lead actress role opposite Salman. While the director wanted to cast his best friend Katrina, Salman was keen on working with Deepika, as fans wanted to see a new pair.

"While Kabir would like to cast his pal Katrina—who incidentally is also Salman's pal—whomKabir has worked with earlier in New York, Ek Tha Tiger and Phantom, Salman has been getting feelers from Deepika. He feels an untried fresh pair at this point in time would make more sense," Subhash K Jha quoted a source as saying.

But it looks like Deepika took the lead and bagged the film. According to Mumbai Mirror, Deepika will be a part of "Tubelight" opposite Salman. The report further stated that she will be joining the cast of "Tubelight" in Ladakh to start the 80-day shoot.

On Monday, Kabir posted a photo of the location and also revealed the date when they will begin the shooting of the film. "So here we are... It all begins on the 28th... #Tubelight @BeingSalmanKhan," he tweeted with a photo.

Meanwhile, the report states that Deepika has been confirmed as the leading lady and will begin 80-day shooting schedule, but another unconfirmed report suggests that she has been roped in as the lead actress of Sanjay Leela Bhansali's next "Padmavati." According to reports, "Padmavati" will go on floors in September and the director Sanjay has asked for 200 days from all the lead actors to finish the shooting of the film.

So if Deepika has agreed to do both the films, then it remains to be seen how she will juggle between the shooting of "Tubelight" and "Padmavati."