Filmmaker Raaj Shaandilyaa, who made his directorial debut last year with Ayushmann Khurrana’s romcom-drama Dream Girl, is gearing up for his next project. The writer-director who has previously written dialogues for films like Welcome Back, Freaky Ali and Jabariya Jodi is apparently working on three scripts. Now PeepingMoon.com has learned that Raaj is in talks with Varun Dhawan for one of those projects. According to sources, the director is developing a film called Maskara which revolves around a stand-up comedian and he has approached Varun to play the lead. Raaj is believed to have narrated the film to Varun last month in Lonavala and the actor liked it.
“Varun loves being called an entertainer and believes in cinema which makes people smile. Raaj and his team believe Varun perfectly fits the character of the stand-up comedian in Maskara which will also be a sort of experiment for the actor. Although Varun hasn’t given his nod as yet and has asked Raaj to develop the full script before he signs it, the makers are quite hopeful about getting him on board,” the source said.
Raaj will reportedly be directing another film before this Varun project rolls around the year-end. His next directorial is said to be a social comedy revolving around male surrogacy with Rajkummar Rao rumoured to be starring in the lead. Ekta Kapoor who produced Raaj’s directorial debut is backing this film as well. Raaj is also believed to be working on a quirky comedy dealing with condoms for producer Shradha Chandavarkar.
Meanwhile, Varun is filming father David Dhawan’s Coolie No.1 in Goa and will kick off Shashank Khaitan’s comic thriller Mr. Lele next month in Mumbai. He is expected to move on to Sriram Raghavan’s biopic on Second Lieutenant Arun Khetarpal PVC who was killed in action in the Battle of Basntar during the 1971 Indo-Pak war by July.
