Salman Khan and Karan Johar to collaborate after 18 years with
Salman Khan and Karan Johar to collaborate after 18 years with Varinder Chawla

Filmmaker Karan Johar's dream project "Shuddhi" (Shhuddhi) has been shelved, but reports of Salman Khan doing the film keeps doing the rounds. Now, Karan Johar has again clarified that the film is currently on hold.

On his 44th birthday, Karan told Hindustan Times about the fate of his dream project "Shuddhi." Karan also slammed the rumours that said Salman had been roped in again to do the film. The filmmaker said he wanted to work with the "Sultan" actor, but there was no truth in Salman coming on board for his ambitious project.

"There's no truth to this. Having said that, it is the desire of my production company, and not just me, to work with Salman on an important film. 'Shuddhi,' for now, is on hold due to logistical reasons, but it will be made one day, and it will be directed by Karan Malhotra, maybe in a couple of years," Karan told HT in an interview.

It looks like "Shuddhi," to be helmed by Karan Malhotra, has been jinxed. The film was initially supposed to go on floors with Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor Khan in the lead. Later, Hrithik and Kareena opted out of the film and Salman was roped in.

In 2014, Karan also made an official announcement on Twitter about Salman joining the cast. "#SHHUDDHI will star SALMAN KHAN and will release Diwali 2016.....@shhuddhimovie, [sic]" he had tweeted.

After a year, the makers again announced the lead actors of "Shuddhi," and this time Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt were signed. However, the film eventually got shelved again.