In Vishal Bhardwaj's O Romeo, Shahid Kapoor plays the role of Ustara, and Triptii Dimri's character's name is Afsha. Now, this takes us back to 2018, when Bhardwaj was supposed to make a film with Deepika Padukone and Irrfan Khan. While the former was going to play the role of Afshan, the latter was supposed to portray the character of Ustara.

Vishal Bhardwaj's O Romeo stars Shahid Kapoor and Triptii Dimri in the lead roles. The makers shared a promo of the film on Saturday and revealed that the movie is 'inspired by true events'. Netizens started speculating that the movie is based on the life of Hussain Ustara and Sapna Didi. Now, this reminds us that in 2018, Bhardwaj was all set to direct a film with Irrfan Khan and Deepika Padukone, in which their characters' names were Ustara and Afshan, respectively.

In O Romeo, Shahid plays the role of Ustara, and Triptii's character's name is Afsha. So, does this mean that even before replacing Deepika in Spirit, Triptii had already replaced the King actress in O Romeo?

Why Irrfan Khan-Deepika Padukone Movie Was Not Made?

In 2018, Bhardwaj shared a long post on Facebook informing everyone about the postponement of his film with Irrfan and Deepika due to their health.

He wrote, "I am pushing back the film by a few months as both of my lead actors are down with different health problems. Irrfan is down with jaundice and it will take him a few weeks to recover and Deepika Padukone's back problem which had previously developed during the shooting of Padmaavat has now resurfaced. Her role in the film is very physically demanding and the doctor has advised her not to do any strenuous work for a couple of months. In the past few weeks, I felt like I was back in the days of Maqbool while prepping with them. Deepika and Irrfan’s look tests have come out exceptionally well, nothing like you’ve seen before, and it took me a moment to recognize them when I saw the test photographs (sic)."

Not A Biopic On Sapna Didi

While at that time there were reports that it was a biopic on Sapna Didi, Bhardwaj had clarified that it is not a biopic. The filmmaker wrote, "I would also like to clear that the film is still untitled and is not based on Rahima Khan/Sapna Didi’s life. Yes, it’s a takeoff from the story Femme Fatale from Hussain Zaidi’s book Mafia Queens of Mumbai but as we worked on this idea, the story and screenplay have taken on a new identity and shape which is nowhere close to the above-mentioned names. Hence, it’s definitely not a biopic (sic)."

The film was never made as later Irrfan was diagnosed with neuroendocrine cancer, and in 2020, he passed away.

Triptii Dimri Replaces Deepika Padukone

Last year, there was a lot of buzz about one film, Spirit. Reportedly, Deepika was supposed to star in it, but due to the actress' demand for an 8-hour work shift, things didn't work out and she exited from the film.

Later, the makers of Spirit roped in Triptii to play the female lead. On January 1, 2026, the first look poster of the Sandeep Reddy Vanga director was released. So, Spirit is not the only film in which Triptii might have replaced Deepika.