A cold war has been triggered between Ranbir Kapoor and Ram Gopal Varma after the actor refused RGV's offer to play Amitabh Bachchan's grandson in the planned political thriller Sarkar 3, the last of the Sarkar trilogy.
A highly placed industry insider told DNA, "Ramu is very upset with Ranbir. Ranbir was best suited to play Kay Kay Menon's son.
In Sarkar 3, which would have seen amitabh coaching his grandson to take over the powerful Subhash Nagre empire.
Ramu was really impressed by Ranbir and approached him with the offer, but Ranbir wasn't too excited about the film. In fact, he flatly refused to do it."
The informer adds, "This refusal has not gone down well with Ramu. He has been sulking. Ramu could not believe.
Ranbir wouldn't be keen to be part of Sarkar 3 and act with Amitabh Bachchan. Ranbir, however, seems to have his reasons he wants to experiment with roles and since.
He is already doing Prakash Jha's Rajneeti, another political thriller, he didn't want to do the same genre. Even his proposed role in Sarkar 3 was similar to the one he's doing in Rajneeti -- playing heir to a great political legacy. Therefore he refused the RGV movie."
But the snub has apparently derailed the whole project. "With Ranbir refusing, Ramu doesn't have anyone else in mind who he thinks can play this role. Plus, he needs a saleable name from the industry to play Amitabh Bachchan's grandson.
With nothing working out, Ramu is scrapping Sarkar 3," adds the source. While Ranbir's denial was short, RGV seemed in a bad mood. "I have no intention of making Sarkar 3. I never ever approached Ranbir or anybody else for that matter. So, where's the question of him opting out?"
That said, people who have seen Sarkar Raj will remember how the film ends with Amitabh Bachchan crying out aloud -- 'Mujhe Chikoo (grandson) chahiye'. When the movie released, RGV had given interviews saying Sarkar 3 was planned and there were even rumours of Hrithik Roshan playing the role back then.