Puri Jagannadh says Janhvi Kapoor was his first choice for Liger and Jana Gana Mana; says he’s a big fan of Sridevi

Liger will see Ananya Panday make her debut in South Indian cinema. Director Puri Jagannadh had earlier considered Janhvi Kapoor to star as the female lead in the film, opposite Vijay Deverakonda. The filmmaker recently opened up about the same, revealing that he had also considered Janhvi for a role in Jana Gana Mana as well.

According to a report in India Forums, Puri revealed that he is a big fan of the late Sridevi, Janhvi’s mother, during a group media interaction. The director said that he wanted to cast Janhvi in Liger, but the actress had not been available for filming during the required dates. It was then that Karan Johar, a producer on Liger, suggested Ananya for the role, and Puri had nothing but good things to say of the latter as well.

The director went on to talk about how he had also wanted to cast Janhvi for his next film, Jana Gana Mana, another pan India film led by Vijay Deverakonda. Puri said he had approached Janhvi with the script for the film, but the actress could not be a part of the project due to issues with the date yet again. Pooja Hegde was later chosen to essay the role of the female lead in Jana Gana Mana.

Liger, which also stars Ronit Roy, Ramya Krishna Vishu Reddy, Ali, Makarand Desh Pandey, Getup Srinu and Mike Tyson, will be released in theaters on August 25. The film will be released in Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam.

Meanwhile, Janhvi was last seen in the Disney+Hotstar film, Good Luck Jerry, which is the Hindi remake of Nayanthara’s Kolamaavu Kokila. The actress’ upcoming releases include Mathukutty Xavier’s Mili, Sharan Sharma’s Mr and Mrs Mahi, and Nitesh Tiwari’s Bawaal. In the latter two, the actress will share the screen with Rajkummar Rao and Varun Dhawan respectively.