Dostana 2 is officially back on track, after earlier reports suggested the film had been shelved. Producer Karan Johar recently confirmed that shooting for the Collin D’Cunha directorial was temporarily halted after 20 days of filming.
Kartik Aaryan, who was originally cast as the male lead alongside Lakshya and Janhvi Kapoor, made headlines with his abrupt exit from the project. Nearly four years later, the movie is set to be revived with a fresh cast.
Lakshya, who was set to make his Bollywood debut with the Dharma Productions film, has since appeared in Kill under the same banner.
Pratibha Ranta to Replace Janhvi Kapoor in Dostana 2?
According to a report by Times Now, Lakshya remains part of the cast for Dostana 2, while early reports suggest that Pratibha Ranta, who rose to fame with Laapataa Ladies, has been approached for the female lead role.
Earlier, actor Vikrant Massey confirmed that he had signed on for the project and expressed excitement about working on his first Dharma Productions film. Janhvi Kapoor, who had also exited the project along with Kartik, is reportedly not returning due to prior commitments.
Who is Pratibha Ranta?
Pratibha Ranta is best known for her breakout role in Laapataa Ladies. Before her big-screen debut, she appeared in television shows like Qurbaan Hua on Zee TV alongside Karan Jotwani. She has also featured in the web series Aadha Ishq, co-starring Darsheel Safary and Gaurav Arora.
Following the success of Laapataa Ladies, Pratibha has signed on for the upcoming Amazon Prime Video series The Revolutionaries, where she stars alongside Rohit Saraf, Bhuvan Bam, Gurfateh Pirzada, and Jason Shah.
Janhvi Kapoor on Dostana 2 Exit
Janhvi Kapoor previously confirmed that she had filmed for a few days with Kartik Aaryan for Dostana 2 but admitted she was unsure why production was halted.
In an interview with The Lallantop, she said:“I don’t know either. We had shot for that film for about 30 to 35 days. The shoot was going very well, according to me. I don’t know why the film was shelved. We began shooting long before COVID. And then COVID happened, which caused a delay of over one-and-a-half years. Then people felt that restarting the film… I don’t know.”
When asked about the rumored fallout between Karan Johar and Kartik Aaryan, Janhvi responded: “I don’t think it was that. I believe that job is really essential to them both. You should ask them about it, because unke beech kya hua, kya nahi hua.”
