Have you heard? Students to unite

Varun Dhawan and Tiger Shroff

Last May, rumours surfaced about two of KJ's students uniting for a movie. Almost a year on, we hear that Varun Dhawan, who made his debut with Student of the Year (2012), and Tiger Shroff, who starred in Student of the Year 2 (2017), will collaborate for a Dharma production. However, the film, said to be an action comedy, will go on floors only next year. Raj Mehta, who previously directed Varun in Jugjugg Jeeyo (2022), will helm the yet-untitled film that is scripted by Sumit Roy and has dialogues by Anurag Kashyap. Currently gearing up for the release of Baby John, Varun is set to begin filming director-buddy Shashank Khaitan's Sunny Sanskari ki Tulsi Kumari with Janhvi Kapoor next month. The actor also has filmmaker-father David Dhawan's next and Anees Bazmee's No Entry Mein Entry with Arjun Kapoor and Diljit Dosanjh. Raj's directorial venture will be Tiger's second collaboration with KJo, after their actioner Screw Dheela was put on the backburner in November 2022.

A gala time

Ayushmann Khurrana is in New York for the Time100 Gala event, where the world's most influential people will be felicitated. The actor, who is also championing the cause of child rights protection as the UNICEF Ambassador, has been honoured twice by the international publication. First, he was named as one of the 100 most influential people of the world in 2020, and last year, he was presented with the Impact Award. At the event in NYC tonight, Ayushmann will interact with icons like Dua Lipa, Sofia Coppola, Elliot Page, Kylie Minogue, Michael J Fox, Taraji P Henson and F1 driver Max Verstappen.

Raid to end soon

Ajay Devgn, who began filming Raid 2 with Vaani Kapoor in January this year, is set to wrap up Rajkumar Gupta's directorial venture by April-end. The team is in the midst of the final schedule in Lucknow, after which they will head to Delhi for a two-day shoot. The thriller, a sequel to the 2018 hit, Raid, sees Ajay return as the upright Income Tax officer Amay Patnaik, springing a surprise on the antagonist, essayed by Riteish Deshmukh this time around. The makers had announced November 15 as the release date, but it appears that they may reschedule it. Reason: Ajay and Rohit Shetty's Singham Again is reportedly being rescheduled to October-end, as a Diwali offering. Interestingly, the new dates of the superstar's two other films are yet to be finalised. One is Abhishek Kapoor's yet-untitled action thriller that marks the debut of Ajay's nephew Aaman Devgn and Raveena Tandon's daughter Rasha Thadani. Ajay also has Neeraj Pandey's Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, which was initially slated to arrive on April 29.

Jackie, Faffy join the fun venture

Even as the makers of Welcome to the Jungle are shooting a mega song with an ensemble cast led by Akshay Kumar, we hear two more actors have joined the comic entertainer. Jackie Shoff and Aftab Shivdasani are rumoured to come on board Ahmed Khan's directorial venture, which is backed by Firoz A Nadiadwallah. Details of their characters are not known yet. However, it is being said that the makers are planning to release the movie around Christmas 2024.

Writer's choice

Contrary to the notion that Salman Khan and his sister Arpita Khan Sharma nudged Aayush Sharma to become an actor, it turns out that veteran writer KV Vijayendra Prasad came up with the suggestion. During a promotional event of their upcoming film, Ruslaan, producer KK Radhamohan revealed that when Salman shared his plans of launching his brother-in-law as a director, the RRR writer wondered why he wanted Aayush to foray into filmmaking. "‘Make him a hero,' he suggested," recalled Radhamohan. That's how Aayush began his journey as an actor, making his debut with LoveYatri (2018). Prasad, who is scripting Rajamouli's next starring Mahesh Babu, has completed writing the sequel of Salman's Bajrangi Bhaijaan (2015).

Tanisha scores her big break

Rajkumar Santoshi's daughter Tanisha Santoshi has bagged her first big film. The actor, who played a small part in the filmmaker's Gandhi-Godse: Ek Yudh (2023), has been signed on by producer Vishal Rana for a romantic comedy. The makers plan to cast a big name as the male lead for the yet-untitled film. Tanisha recently shot an ad campaign with Ranbir Kapoor. Recalling her first meeting with him on the set of Ajab Prem Ki Ghazab Kahani (APKGK, 2009), she shared their then and now pictures on social media, saying, "From admiring you every day on the sets of APKGK to working with you on my first ad today."