Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao Hydari
Alia Bhatt, Sanjay Dutt, Aditi Rao HydariVarinder Chawla/ Twitter

Bollywood actress Aditi Rao Hydari has been shortlisted to play Sanjay Dutt's daughter in Omung Kumar's Bhoomi. Earlier, Alia Bhatt was offered the role but she turned it down as the actress has reportedly become a bit choosy about her projects.

Also read: Sanjay Dutt to play a cameo in Padmavati?

"We shortlisted Aditi because she's in a good space right now. I love the way she emotes. This, unlike her other projects, will be her film. She's a relatively untapped actress. The father-daughter relationship is an important aspect of the narrative in this revenge drama. Aditi's face perfectly blends softness with a lot of strength. Besides, I like to team up people, who seem unlikely to be cast together, in my movies," Bollywood Life quoted Omung as saying.

Bhoomi is about a revenge drama that centres around the father-daughter relationship. Sanjay has earlier delivered an amazing performance as a father in the 2002 release Pitaah. After coming out of the jail, the actor has projects lined up and currently, he is busy with Bhoomi.

The Sarbjit director talked about the characters of Sanjay and Aditi in the film. "Aditi's role goes hand-in-hand with Dutt's track in the film. His journey is physically demanding while her role will display an array of emotions. So, it's important that they get along well. They are in fact being trained by a diction expert for the dialect common in Agra," Omung said.

Slated to be released on August 4, Bhoomi will be clashing with Aamir Khan's Secret Superstar. Sanjay was last seen in Aamir's film PK. This year, Sanjay's biopic will also hit the screens. The actor's part will be played by Ranbir Kapoor and it will be clashing with Salman Khan-Katrina Kaif's Tiger Zinda Hai.