One doesn’t know from where this erupted just days before Deepika Padukone’s birthday . But the reports that she will play the main villain in the next Dhoom franchise film is, in the words of someone very close to Yash Raj, “pure baldershah”.

Says the source, “This is someone’s imagination running riot. Desktop journalism at its worst.Where is the question of Deepika Padukone playing the villain in a project that hasn’t even been written as yet? That’s right. There is no Dhoom 4 . There is not even a germ of an idea for the next film in the Dhoom franchise.”

Dhoom and Dhoom 2 in 2004 and 2006 were directed by Sanjay Gadhvi. But Dhoom 3 in 2013 was directed by Vijay Krishna Acharya.Dhoom 4 has got no director as yet. The question of casting Deepika or anybody else doesn’t arise until the project is in place.

Laughs the source, “Surely there are less wild ways to attract eyeballs on the websites.Saying Deepika will play the supervillain in Dhoom 4 is as ridiculous as saying Taimur Ali Khan will play the superhero in Dhoom 8 or 9 or whatever.”