Kangana Ranaut says Irrfan Khan was her first choice for Tiku Weds Sheru

Actor Kangana Ranaut on Wednesday said she and Irrfan Khan were initially supposed to star in the upcoming comedy drama "Tiku Weds Sheru".

Ranaut, who is producing the movie via her Manikarnika Films, said the project was previously titled 'Divine Lovers'.

"This is very special. This film was launched before. Initially, Irrfan sahab and I were supposed to do this film. It must be about six-seven years ago. You all came for its launch event and the name of the film then was 'Divine Lovers'," the actor-producer told reporters here.

She was speaking at the trailer launch of the Prime Video film, directed by Sai Kabir Srivastva and featuring Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Avneet Kaur in the lead.

Ranaut said Srivastva had once canned the project after falling sick and by the time he reached out to her, it was too late.

"When he came to me after many years, so a big problem was that Irrfan sahab was nowhere around us and that demotivated us. The second problem was that we needed the Kangana of 10 years ago, the Kangana who had the dream of big city in her eyes, the Kangana who was hoping to be a part of Bollywood. I also said 'Let it be Kabir, this is not going to work now'," she recalled.

The actor said she then pitched the movie to Aparna Purohit, head of India originals at streaming service Prime Video, who "lapped it up".

"That gave us a lot of courage, and then, the paths eventually ended up opening. It's been an amazing collaboration with the Amazon team," she added.

"Tiku Weds Sheru" is billed as a tale of two eccentric, starry eyed characters, who want to make it big in Bollywood.

Ranaut described the movie as a heartfelt ode to Mumbai, the city of dreams.

"This is a kind of love letter to those who come to this city, but lose their way yet end up finding something much more meaningful," she said.

The film will premiere on Prime Video on June 23 in India and across 240 countries and territories worldwide.