Sanjay Leela Bhansali, who is known to conceive his films uniquely, will be turning 61 on February 24. The director has given many hit films to Hindi cinema such as Devdas, Black, and Bajirao Mastani, to name a few. Recently, he announced a new film after around two years with Ranbir Kapoor, Alia Bhatt, and Vicky Kaushal. The filmmaker time and again had confessed his wish to cast Ranbir and Alia together in a film which has finally come true with the announcement of Love & War.

However, do you know Alia and Ranbir were not the only actors on his list with whom he always wanted to work? The ace director also wanted to direct Fardeen Khan and had already cast him in one of his blockbuster dramas.

Do you know Fardeen Khan was cast in Black?

According to a report in IMDb, Bhansali always wanted to direct Fardeen in a film and had written a small role for him in Black. However, he later decided to scrap it for a reason better known to him. The director always felt that there was untapped talent and huge potential in the actor.

The director seized the opportunity when Fardeen announced his return to the big screen after a 12-year hiatus. Bhansali roped in the actor for his debut web series -- Heeramandi --  which is slated to release this year on Netflix.

Fardeen Khan to play antagonist role in Heeramandi

Touted to be one of the highly anticipated web series, the period drama is about the lives of tawaifs in the red-light district of Heera Mandi in Lahore, during the Indian independence movement against the British Raj. Apart from Fardeen, the film stars Manisha Koirala, Sonakshi Sinha, Aditi Rao Hydari, Richa Chadha, Sanjeeda Sheikh, and Sharmin Segal.

Speaking about Khan's role in the series, he will be seen opposite Aditi Rao Hydari, playing a negative character, as per a report in Telly Chakkar. The series will also mark his acting comeback after 12 years.