Sanjay Leela Bhansali to replace Deepika Padukone with Alia Bhatt for his next movie?

Deepika Padukone has lately been Sanjay Leela Bhansali's favourite heroine for his movies, but it seems Alia Bhatt has now grabbed the director's attention.

Deepika remained the lead actress in three back-to-back films – Ram Leela, Bajirao Mastani and Padmaavat of Bhansali. She portrayed each role with great precision and impressed the audience.

But, another actress who received a lot of accolades for her performance in recent times is Alia. Mahesh Bhatt's daughter was poured with a lot of applause for her acting in the movie Raazi. One latest report suggests that Bhansali is so impressed with her skills that he is considering to cast Alia and not Deepika for his next movie.

"Nothing is final as yet. But Bhansali is thinking of Alia seriously for his next, although Deepika is his all-time favourite. A change after working with the same Ranveer – Deepika pair in three successive films would be highly recommended," Bollywood Hungama quoted a source as saying.

Meanwhile, both Deepika and Alia have some promising upcoming movies. While the former will soon start shooting for Meghna Gulzar's Chhapaak that is based on the real-life story of acid-attack survivor Laxmi Agarwal.

On the other side, Alia will next be seen alongside Ranveer Singh in Gully Boy, which has been directed by Zoya Akhtar. First looks posters and a teaser of the movie have received good response from people, who are now eagerly waiting for the trailer. The film is set to be released on February 14.