Shahid Kapoor
Shahid Kapoor at Dadasaheb Phalke Excellence awardsVarinder Chawla

Actor Shahid Kapoor won the Dadasaheb Phalke excellence award for his role in Padmavat and has been working hard for his upcoming film Batti Gul Meter Chalu directed by Shree Narayan Singh. And, the grapevine now has it that the star will next be seen as a boxer.

According to the reports by DNA, Shahid will start shooting for the Airlift director Raja Krishnan Menon's next film, where he would do the role of a boxer.

A source told DNA, "Shahid is doing a sports-based film with Raja. He wanted to explore that space for quite some time. He plays a boxer who emerges triumphant against all odds in his life."

"He needs to have a particular physique to play the character convincingly and learn the techniques of boxing. Someone had approached Shahid with the story. He liked it and since he was already discussing about collaborating with Raja, Sasha asked the filmmaker if he would want to work on it. And the latter started developing it further," The source further added.

Earlier a source had told Mumbai Mirror, "Shahid and Raja have been planning to work together for a while now. They had met after the release of Udta Punjab back in June 2016 and had kept in touch, looking for a project to collaborate on. Both agreed on a script that Raja had been working on."

Director Raja Krishna Menon said, "Yes Shahid and I are very keen to do our next film together. We have been working on an idea that we are both excited about and it will be a film based on a true story." to Mumbai Mirror.

Recently, Shahid Kapoor was spotted outside Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra's office. A source had told the daily, "Shahid and Rakeysh met and discussed the idea of doing a movie together. Although nothing is on paper yet, the actor has shown a keen interest in Mehra's film on Kabaddi."