Priyanka Chopra has dropped out of Ali Abbas Zafar’s Salman Khan-starrer Bharat, the filmmaker confirmed on Friday. In a tweet, Zafar said Chopra was leaving the project for a “very very special” reason.

Bharat was slated to be Chopra’s first Hindi film after Jai Gangaajal (2016), following her international success with the ABC thriller Quantico and several Hollywood projects.

While Zafar did not specify the reason behind Chopra’s departure, he said that the decision was announced in the “Nick of time”, prompting speculation that it may have something to do with her boyfriend, the American singer Nick Jonas. According to various Hollywood trackers, including E!Now and People, Chopra and Jonas were engaged on her 36th birthday on July 18.

Among Chopra’s upcoming films are Shonali Bose’s The Sky Is Pink, co-starring Farhan Akhtar and Zaira Wasim, and Todd Strauss-Schulson’s Isn’t It Romantic, which features Rebel Wilson, Adam DeVine and Liam Hemsworth.

Bharat is an official remake of the South Korean movie Ode to My Father (2014), which narrates the country’s history through the life of an ordinary man. The Eid 2019 release also stars Disha Patani and Nora Fatehi.