The 2019 Malayalam superhit Ishq is getting a Bollywood remake. Filmmaker Neeraj Pandey is producing the film under his Plan C Studios banner while Shashant Shah who's known for making comedy-dramas like Dasvidaniya, Chalo Dilli and Bajatey Raho is directing it. Now, Peepingmoon.com has got the exclusive update on its casting, and contrary to the rumours, the romantic thriller does not star Aamir Khan's son Junaid Khan or Bandish Bandits actor Ritwik Bhowmik who was reported to have bagged the role after Junaid didn't qualify in the audition.
Sources close to the project have exclusively revealed that Neeraj Pandey's Ishq — Not A Love Story will star two relatively new young actors as the lead romantic couple — Sidhant Gupta and Vedika Pinto. While Sidhant has earlier featured in supporting roles in films such as Badmashiyaan (2015) and Bhoomi (2017), Vedika is best known for starring in the music video Liggi by Ritviz, in which she played the role of a bold, wild and fearless bride. Both actors come from the modeling background and will make their debut in lead roles with this film, reprising the roles of Shane Nigam and Ann Sheetal from the original. The film, we heard, also stars Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior and Laxmii fame Sharad Kelkar and Tere Naam actress Bhumika Chawla in pivotal roles.
A suspense romantic-thriller that discusses a highly relevant social issue in an extremely effective manner, Ishq is the story of two young lovers who go for a romantic interlude one night. During the journey, how fate plays spoilsport and how a normal journey can turn into terror and what impact that incidents stamps on their life forms the crux of the story. The film deals with the issue of moral policing that many are constantly subjected to on our streets, exposing the hypocrisy and misogyny prevalent in present-day India.
Neeraj Pandey is said to have remade the film pretty much the same way as the original, and we heard, he's happy with the way the film has shaped up. The movie's shooting has been completed and is currently in post-production, eyeing the mid-year release in theaters. Interestingly, the Anuraj Manohar-directed critically-acclaimed Malayalam drama is also being remade in Telugu with the same title as that of its Hindi adaptation. The Telugu version that stars Sajja Teja and Priya Prakash Varrier in the lead is scheduled to release next week in cinemas!
