Scoop: Akshaye Khanna to play Sunil Dutt in Hirani's Sanjay Dutt biopic?

B-Town is abuzz with speculations  on who would play Sunil Dutt in the Rajkumar Hirani-directed Sanjay Dutt biopic toplined by Ranbir Kapoor. While many names have been thrown in the fray, looks like the ball has stopped in Akshaye Khanna's court.

The 41-year-old actor, who is in excellent shape is the top contender for the role of the late actor-politician.

Akshaye returned from a four year hiatus earlier this year as the antagonist in Rohit Dhawan's Dishoom, also featuring John Abraham and Varun Dhawan. He was last seen in Rumi Jaffery's 2012 comedy Gali Gali Chor Hai and has been shooting for Boney Kapoor's next production, the tentatively titled Mom with Sridevi and Nawazuddin Siddiqui.

Speaking to a tabloid earlier about his self-imposed hiatus, Akshaye had admitting to feeling suffocated--creatively stifled--as acting is the only thing he knows or wants to do.

“Once I was in front of the camera, I felt like I was able to breathe again, there was a sense of belonging,“ he asserted, adding that once he was ready to get back, it took him a while to identify the right project because he was worried he might have got a little rusty in the interim. And so he has decided that the first couple of films should not rest on his shoulders alone.

“I wanted to test the waters before taking on bigger roles. I had to earn my stripes again, after being away for four years. I had to start from scratch like any newcomer,“ he had said.

Ranbir will kick start the shooting for the film in 2017 and is currently preparing for the part. Sonam Kapoor and Anushka Sharma are also a part of the project.

Sunil Dutt rose to stardom with Mehboob Khan's 1957 epic drama, Mother India, playing Nargis's rebel son Birju. He saved the actress from a fire on the sets and later married her on March 11, 1958. He went on to do many more successful films like Sadhna, Sujata, Mujhe Jeene Do, Khandan and Padosan.Later, he turned to politics but returned to films shortly before his death, in Raju Hirani's Munna Bhai MBBS in 2003, in which he shared the screen with his son Sanjay who played the titular role.