Filmmaker Anees Bazmee hasn’t announced his next project since the success of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. The director was earlier supposed to work with Salman Khan on the highly anticipated No Entry sequel, but the project was put on the backburner due to rights issues. Bazmee has since been toying with multiple ideas and has been in talks with several actors for his next film. And he finally seems to have locked in the lead cast for his next directorial project.

Peepingmoon.com can confirm that Shahid Kapoor has been finalized to headline Anees Bazmee’s next film. The yet-untitled project is a tentpole action-comedy and will feature Shahid in a new avatar. Although the actor had given his verbal nod to this film months ago, he is said to have signed on the dotted line very recently. "The Anees Bazmee-Shahid Kapoor film is a commercial comic caper with a quirky storyline. It’s an ensemble drama and will feature a strong supporting cast alongside Shahid. Anees is currently finalising the heroine and other cast members and will begin pre-production on this film next month," a source close to the development told us, adding that the film will bring Shahid back to the comedy genre almost a decade later. His last full-on comedy film was Rajkumar Santoshi’s Phata Poster Nikla Hero, released in 2013.

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Shahid will start shooting for the Anees Bazmee film in April 2023. The actor is currently filming Dinesh Vijan’s robot rom-com with Kriti Sanon, and soon after finishing it, he will head to the comedy drama. Shahid was earlier supposed to begin Rosshan Andrrews’ investigative thriller for Roy Kapur Films, but he has apparently postponed that film, prioritizing the Anees Bazmee entertainer, produced by Ekta Kapoor and Dil Raju. The film marks Shahid’s second collaboration with both producers after Udta Punjab (2016) and Jersey (2022), respectively.

Meanwhile, Shahid is gearing up for two releases this year. His debut Amazon Prime series, Farzi, premieres on February 10. The Raj & DK-created and directed thriller series stars Shahid in the role of a small-time artist working out of his grandfather’s printing press who has designed the ultimate con job and gets pulled into the murky, high-stakes world of all that it demands. The show also stars Vijay Sethupathi, Raashi Khanna, Kay Kay Menon, Regina Cassandra, Zakir Hussain, Bhuvan Arora, Amol Palekar, and Kubbra Sait in pivotal roles. Shahid will follow this series with Ali Abbas Zafar’s Bloody Daddy in mid-2023. The film is a remake of the French thriller Sleepless Night and will premiere directly on a streaming platform.