Five years after Karan Johan “adopted’ newbies Alia Bhatt, Varun Dhawan and Siddharth Malhotra and launched them in his 2012 Student of The Year, he’s ready to play godfather again, this time to Janhvi Kapoor and Ishaan Khattar in the love story with honour killing background titled Dhadak.

The filmmaker, who in the meanwhile became the proud father of surrogate twins Roohi and Yash Johar this year, took to Instagram this evening to reveal that Janhvi and Ishaan are the two new additions to his Dharma Productions family. Sridevi’s daughter and Shahid Kapoor’s brother will be proudly launched by KJo in the remake of the Marathi super hit film Sairat that was on the caste system and which won a National Film Award in 2015.

Janhvi is undergoing rigorous dance training sessions for her debut film. Karan's BFF Manish Malhotra has taken the girl under his wing and has encouraged Janhvi to step into the traditional look and be seen more often in salwar-kameez like her character in Dhadak. 

Ishaan, on the other hand, is already testing his acting skills with Majid Majidi's Beyond the Clouds, his international debut, and is a trained dancer himself. Dharma's homeboy Shashank Ghosh (Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania and Badrinath Ki Dulhania fame) will be helming the film.

Jhanvi and Ishaan are reportedly in Udaipur where they have begun the workshop for their debut film. Important songs and a few portions of the film will be shot in the Lake City. Ishaan is said to be playing the role of a Dalit boy who falls in love with a Brahmin girl (Jhanvi). But the rigid caste system becomes an obstacle for these two lovers.

Bollywood trade sources say that the young actors have a benchmark to reach that has been set by Sairat but they have no doubt that Karan Johar, who is known for holding the hands of his newcomers and leading them through their paces, will make it happen.

Dhadak will release on July 6, 2018.