Anushka Sharma turns down Farhan Akhtar's 'Jee Le Zaraa', not replacing Priyanka Chopra

It was reported Priyanka Chopra chose Citadel 2 over Farhan Akhtar’s Jee Le Zaraa and that Anushka Sharma was approached for that part. A report by Bollywood Hungama says she too has turned the offer down. A source told the portal, “Anushka was excited about the idea of a female-led journey of self-discovery, but the shooting timelines were not matching with her calendar. She has to balance her personal life with her profession and allotting the number of days that Farhan asked for was not possible.”

It added, “here are a lot of combination dates with Katrina Kaif and Alia Bhatt, but it was not in line with her schedule.”

Back in 2022, Chopra spoke about this film and stated, “I have spent a long time in my career where we have always been secondary to men. The heroes decide where the movie is shot, who is cast and what’s happening. It is boring. We are living in a time where women need to be able to have agency in their lives,” the 40-year-old actor told PTI in an interview.

The germ of “Jee Le Zaraa“, to be directed by actor-filmmaker Farhan Akhtar, took root in Priyanka’s mind and what followed was a long telephonic chat with her friends Katrina and Alia. “I called up Alia and Katrina, this is before Farhan or anybody came (on board). I called the girls first. I was sitting at home and I wanted to do a Hindi movie. But I wanted it to be on the terms of women,” she added.

“My generation of actresses really really opened the door for the next generation of actresses to be the faces on the posters, to be able to sell movies. So, I really wanted to bring together my friends and say let’s create a movie that will do well at the box office and it will be ours… So, the stars aligned and we decided to do it. Hopefully, we will start shoot it next year,” she said. Maybe fate had other plans.