Akshay Kumar’s Prithviraj gets its female lead, actor to star opposite former Miss World Manushi Chhillar

Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar will make her Bollywood debut opposite Akshay Kumar in Prithviraj. She will play Sanyogita in the film.

Akshay Kumar is all set to star opposite Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar in his first period drama, Prithviraj. The former beauty queen will play the role of Sanyogita while Akshay is in the title role.

Former Miss World Manushi Chhillar to star opposite Akshay Kumar in Prithviraj.

Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh confirmed the news on Twitter. He wrote, “IT’S OFFICIAL... Miss World 2017 Manushi Chhillar makes her big screen debut... Paired opposite Akshay Kumar in Yash Raj’s historical film #Prithviraj... Manushi will play the role of Sanyogita... Directed by Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi... Produced by Aditya Chopra... #Diwali2020.”

 

He later shared a picture from the mahurat pooja and captioned it, “Filming begins... Akshay Kumar and Manushi Chhillar along with director Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi performed pooja, before commencing the shooting of Yash Raj’s historical film #Prithviraj... #Diwali2020 release.”

 

The film will be the big Diwali release next year. To be directed by y Dr Chandraprakash Dwivedi, it will be made under the banner of Yash Raj Films. It is expected to clash with Kangana Ranaut’s action thriller, Dhaakad which is also scheduled to hit theatres around the festival.

Talking about choosing Manushi for the film, Dwivedi told IANS, “We auditioned a lot of young, fresh faces for the role because we were looking for a stunningly gorgeous Indian heroine. While Sanyogita was an incredibly beautiful person, she was also a strong, confident girl. We were looking to find someone who could match the magnetic persona of Sanyogita and we found that in Manushi.” The director said that Manushi auditioned “for the role a couple of times”.

“We wanted to be dead sure with this casting and she nailed it each time. She has been rehearsing six days a week since then and is being thoroughly groomed for the last nine months by Yash Raj Films (YRF).”

According to IANS, Manushi said her life so far has been a fairy tale and she is now looking forward to her big debut. “I’m thoroughly happy and thrilled about the learnings that I will have through this journey. My life, so far, has really been a fairy tale. From becoming Miss India and then Miss World to now getting such a big project as my debut film, it’s like a new, exciting chapter of my life.” Manushi finds it a “huge responsibility” to play princess Sanyogita.

“She was a powerful personality and she stood up for what is right and took the most important decisions of her life by herself. Her life is an extremely important chapter in Indian history and I will try my best to play her as accurately as possible,” she added.

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