Is Priyanka Chopra going to be doing Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s gangster drama Heera Mandi after all? The indications are strong. However, no confirmations are coming from either the filmmaker or actress. News on this film, in which Priyanka was reportedly going to be playing a sex worker, broke out as early as in February 2017 on YouTube. There was no follow-up because SLB got busy with Padmaavat and Priyanka with Quantico and Baywatch after that. But the buzz was that she had walked out of SLB’s film.

[caption id="attachment_134390" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Priyanka Chopra with Sanjay Leela Bhansali[/caption]

Now PeepingMoon.com sources hint that SLB has started prep work on Heera Mandi and four songs have been recorded. It is likely he will announce the film’s release in November. Bollywood is waiting to see if Priyanka will be in it. The actress, who last worked with SLB in Bajirao Mastani (2015), was to make her comeback to Bollywood through Salman Khan’s Bharat. But she backed out reportedly to get engaged to American musician Nick Jonas. However, sources suggest that Priyanka had signed the Hollywood film Cowboy Ninja Viking opposite Guardians of The Galaxy and Jurassic World star Chris Pratt and wanted to give that (not Bharat) her full attention.

Recommended Read: After Bharat, Priyanka Chopra exits Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s gangster film?

[caption id="attachment_134367" align="aligncenter" width="609"] Priyanka Chopra as Kashibai in Bajirao Mastani[/caption]

But Cowboy Ninja Viking is now indefinitely delayed. And Priyanka finds herself with nothing new in hand. Not even another season of Quantico which has run its course. Is it likely, then, that there have been secret parleys between SLB and the actress for Heera Mandi? The film is reportedly a biopic on the notorious mafia queen Gangubai Kothewali of the 1950s who ran a chain of brothels in Bombay and is believed to have complained to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru about the problems her trade faced in the city.

But PeepingMoon.com sources are not sure about this because just last month SLB’s spokesperson denied the filmmaker had discussed any such film with Priyanka. Now the actress will next be seen in Shonali Bose’s The Sky Is Pink opposite Farhan Akhtar that she is co-producing along with Ronnie Screwvala and Siddharth Roy Kapur. And she’s wrapped up Hollywood’s 2019 Valentine Day release Isn’t It Romantic in which her co-stars are Adam Devine, Rebel Wilson and Liam Hemsworth.