Ranbir Kapoor, Mahesh Babu
Ranbir Kapoor, Mahesh BabuInstagram

Director Sandeep Reddy Vanga may have been at the receiving end of criticism for his idea about love, but his double hit, Arjun Reddy and Kabir Singh, has now got him on the wishlist of many A-listers. And as Sandeep has turned his focus to direct a Hindi dark crime-thriller titled Devil, Ranbir Kapoor seems to have come on board for the project.

It is being said that before zeroing in on Ranbir, Sandeep had narrated the story of Devil to Mahesh Babu who was sceptical about doing the film because of his dark subject. He apparently asked Sandeep to come up with another idea but the director moved on to Ranbir for portraying the character.

Ranbir has reportedly liked the character of Devil with dark shades and was keen on playing such character on screen. And interestingly, it will Ranbir's darkest character that he ever played on screen.

"Sandeep Vanga was very keen to work with Mahesh Babu, and Mahesh was interested as well. But after Vanga narrated Devil to the actor, Mahesh found the subject too dark for his taste and for his audience's tastes," a source was quoted a saying by Deccan Chronicle.

On the work front, Ranbir is currently busy with Ayan Mukerji's directorial Brahmastra which also stars Alia Bhatt in lead. He will also be seen in Shamshera opposite Sanjay Dutt. Both the movies are scheduled to release in 2020.