Malashree’s daughter Ananya as Darshan’s next heroine? Fans not enthused, hope it’s a sister role

Late last night, the big news break was that the heroine announcement of Challenging Star Darshan’s next with director Tharun Sudhir, which is slated to be at 9.45 am today, is that of Ananya Ramu, the daughter of veteran actress Malashree and late producer Ramu. Ananya will, apparently, be introduced with the screen name Radhana. Darshan fans, though, are not enthused by the pairing.

As soon as a few industry tracking social media handles broke the news, fans responded hoping that the film would be a two-heroine project and that Tharun would get a more established and popular name in the lead, instead of only the 20-year-old debutante. Ananya, they said, does not seem like a good fit to play Darshan’s heroine. Some even hoped that she would be playing his sister rather than love interest.

In the past, Ninnindale actress Erica Fernandes had been signed up to star opposite Darshan in Mr Airavata. However, she was later replaced by Urvashi Rautela, citing that her petite frame would make her a complete mismatch with Darshan. Fans have been saying that about Ashika and Sreeleela also, as both are diminutive in stature. In fact, even before the official announcement, there are calls to Tharun to change the heroine, if Ananya is actually his choice. Darshan, they say, deserves a heroine who matches his personality.

In industry circles, it is known that Tharun prefers local talent in his films. Even when he cast Asha Bhat for Roberrt, the draw was that even though she was a major pageant winner based out of Mumbai, she has Kannadiga roots and speaks the language. In fact, yesterday, when the team announced that the heroine would be unveiled today, fan speculation was that it could be Raashii Khanna, Sreeleela, Ashika Ranganath or Mahima Makwana. While Raashii was seen as the frontrunner for the role, August 5, beside being the Varamahalakshmi festival is also Ashika and Mahima’s birthday, so fans reckoned that it could work out as a birthday announcement for either of them.