A passion project for director
Sanjay Leela Bhansali since the 1990s, even before he made his directorial debut,
Khamoshi the Musical (1996). The film was first announced in 2003. Bhansali initially wanted to cast
Salman Khan and
Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, his lead pair from
Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam (1999), as the lead actors, with
Bhoomika Chawla playing Kashibai, but his plans fell through when the real-life couple had a messy, highly-publicized breakup. Bhansali kept Khan on and approached
Kareena Kapoor to play Mastani and
Rani Mukerji to play Kashibai but shelved his plans and moved on to other projects after Khan and Kapoor both signed on to star in
Kyon Ki... (2005), as he had wanted to be the first director to unite the pair, as he stated on the talk show
Episode #1.4 (2004). Over the following decade, Bhansali kept expecting the project to be his next film, with several major actors being approached or rumored to be linked to the project, including
Shahrukh Khan,
Ajay Devgn,
Hrithik Roshan and
Katrina Kaif, while some in the industry believed it would never be made, calling it jinxed. The project was finally properly revived in 2014 when Bhansali finally decided on his lead actress from
Mary Kom (2014),
Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and his lead pair from
RamLeela (2013),
Ranveer Singh and
Deepika Padukone.
