Priyanka's engagement with Nick is NOT the real reason for QUITTING Salman's Bharat! Here's the full story

Gossip mills have not been able to stop buzzing ever since Priyanka Chopra walked out of Salman Khan’s ‘Bharat’. The ‘Race 3’ actor is apparently miffed with PeeCee for taking the drastic step and has even reportedly vowed to never work with her. Everyone is curious to know why the ‘Quantico’ actress opted out from the Ali Abbas Zafar directorial. ‘Bharat’, which is based on South Korean film- ‘Ode To My Father’, was supposed to be Priyanka’s comeback vehicle to Bollywood and her exit has set many tongues wagging. Leading Hollywood websites have reported that our’ Desi girl’ is engaged to her alleged boyfriend Nick Jonas, although the two of them are yet to confirm the development. Director Ali Abbas Zafar’s tweet raised several eyebrows as he mentioned that Priyanka’s reason for leaving ‘Bharat’ is very special and she told the team in the Nick of time about her decision. The timing of her walking out of the film and her engagement rumours surfacing at the same time has become the talk of the town. A report in an entertainment portal suggested that Priyanka had her own reasons to quit the film. Piggy Chops had even shot for two days for the upcoming flick during one of her trips to India, the report said. When Priyanka was brought on-board for the film, she had no idea that the ensemble cast would keep on getting bigger. The global icon felt that with Disha Patani, Tabu and Nora Fatehi on-board, she would get sidelined in ‘Bharat’, the report added. Here’s the full story. “On one of her trips to India, Priyanka had shot for two days for Bharat, in Mumbai. It was a hush-hush shoot and only the unit knows about it. Initially, she was very happy about her role as PeeCee is there right from the beginning to the end as the film is about a couple who fall in love, get married and grow old together as their life keeps coming in flashbacks. But while Priyanka was in the US, she kept getting news about other actors getting added to the cast. First came Disha Patani (and her role was increased), then Tabu and Nora Fatehi and all had roles specially created for them,'' a trade source told Pinkvilla. ''Apparently, Salman is taking the call for these roles so PeeCee thought that she might face the same problem that Jacqueline Fernandez faced in Race 3 – of getting sidelined by Daisy Shah and the rest. At the end of it all, Race 3 looked more of an ensemble cast, with Bobby Deol, Freddy Daruwala and Saqib Salim, than a Salman Khan film. In Bharat, besides Tabu, Disha and Nora there’s also Sunil Grover and Aasif Sheikh. That’s why PeeCee thought it was in her best interest to leave the film,’’ the source added. (Source- Instagram) The source also told the portal Priyanka is a huge international star and working in a film like ‘Bharat’ with a great ensemble cast won’t work well for her image.  Since she is close to Aprita Khan Sharma, she couldn’t tell Salman’s family what made her change her mind. “Today Priyanka Chopra’s a huge international star and to be part of a film like Bharat, which is looking like an ensemble cast, day by day would not work for her image. But she’s also very close to Salman’s family so apparently, she could not tell them what changed her mind. Hence, the engagement has come at an opportune time which satisfies everybody,” the source told the portal. ''An engagement is a happy time and nobody can grudge her that, not even Salman, who initially was apparently very upset about her walk-out. Priyanka is currently shooting for Shonali Bose’s untitled next. She plays the main protagonist and the role is befitting her image. Katrina Kaif has been approached to step into PeeCee’s shoes for Bharat and will soon give her nod to it post her return from London where she is spending some time with her family,” the source further added. We had previously reported that Katrina would be part of 'Bharat' as she shares a close bond with director Zafar. We have to wait for some more time to see which actress will replace Priyanka in the film. Watch this space for more updates!