Deepika Padukone news: RETURN to Hollywood after Padmaavat controversy? 'It's NOT xXx 4'

The Bollywood superstar, who suffered controversy with her most recent project Padmaavat, has been rumoured in the Indian press to be making her return to Western cinema.

She was introduced to a whole new fanbase when she took on the xXx threequel, starring alongside Vin Diesel and Ruby Rose.

According to Times of India, she is in talks with studio producers – and could start shooting by the end of 2018.

It is stressed by the publication that this would be a new project – and not the long-rumoured xXx 4.

Bollywood Bubble adds that she is currently trying to make the dates work around upcoming Bollywood projects – as she doesn’t want to sacrifice one for the other.

This is more encouraging news for the star after she ended up at the centre of a huge controversy over Padmaavat.

An Indian politician even shockingly put a bounty on her head when she starred in the movie – with much of the film’s negative press coming from rumours of a sex scene that didn’t even make the final cut.

Still, Padmaavat was an enormous success in India – despite mixed reviews.

Padukone was tipped last year to be making a more forceful move into Hollywood, with Diesel rumoured at one point to be helping her sift through scripts.

This, however, turned out not to be the case – with production on Padmaavat taking far longer than expected.

She is expected to return for xXx 4  if such a project ever makes it off the ground: last year director DJ Caruso confirmed that he’d want all the primary cast back.

“I remember getting some of her fans reaching out to me saying they were a little disappointed that ‘you’re taking her away’, because usually in the Bollywood system she could get two or three movies done in a year,” he told Express.co.uk.

“And now we’re taking her away for five months, so she’s not going to have another Bollywood movie!

“They were really used to getting two or three films [a year] with her and one was not enough.”

He added: “[We’re] trying to get everyones schedules to line up again. It’s definitely a discussion because it did so well around the globe.

“The business side makes sense and the group of us had so much fun making it, we’d love to get back together again.”

Padukone, 32, is thought to be one of the biggest stars in Bollywood today.