Have you heard? Hrithik Roshan to shoot cameos in Alia Bhatt and Sharvari Wagh's Alpha

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Meet the special mentor

Last November, Hrithik Roshan was seen in a special appearance in Salman Khan's Tiger 3 (2023). This November, the light-eyed superstar will shoot another cameo. This time around, Duggu will join Shiv Rawail's Alpha , which stars Alia Bhatt and Sharvari as the new female spies. Unlike the dark tones to his character Kabir Dhaliwal in Tiger 3, which was designed to announce War 2 as next edition of Aditya Chopra's YRF spy universe, it is being said that he will play a mentor of sorts to Alia and Sharvari's characters. Besides an adrenaline-pumping introductory scene, Duggu's cameo will lead to a high-octane action set-piece with Alia and Sharvari. The superstar will undergo three-days prep before he begins his week-long schedule for Alpha on November 9. Within days of completing his special appearance, Duggu will shoot the climax of War 2 with Junior NTR. Director Ayan Mukerji's action thriller, also starring Kiara Advani, is slated to arrive in cinemas on Independence Day next year, while Alpha is being readied for a Christmas 2025 release.

New jodi alert

Sreeleela's loss has proved to be Pooja Hegde 's gain. The Radhe Shyam (2022) actor has been signed on as Varun Dhawan's leading lady for his next, tentatively-titled Hai Jawani Toh Ishq Hona Hai. Helmed by David Dhawan, the rom-com marks the fourth collaboration between the veteran director and his actor-son. Mrunal Thakur, who plays the other lead, has shot some of her sequences with Varun. Next week, the team will head to Goa for the second spell of the shoot. Later in November, they will begin a month-long schedule on a set that will be built in Mehboob Studios. They are also planning an international schedule for early 2025.

Cleared with a few modifications

Rohit Shetty's Singham Again has cleared the censor hurdle. The Central Board of Film Certification issued the Ajay Devgn, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Deepika Padukone, Akshay Kumar, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Tiger Shroff and Jackie Shroff-starrer a U/A certificate with quite a few alterations. In two instances, the makers had to modify the visual depictions of Lord Ram, Sita and Hanuman with that of Ajay's Singham, Kareena's Avni and Ranveer's Simmba. A 16-second visual of Raavan grabbing and pulling Sita in a drama scene, and a 29-second visual of Hanuman burning and a dialogue of Simmba flirting was removed. The visuals of the Constitutional head were deleted in two scenes and the dialogues were appropriately altered, while the color of a religious flag and the use of Shiv Stotra in the background in another scene was appropriately modified. The Censor Board also reportedly asked the makers to redraft the disclaimer stating that the film is purely a work of fiction, and "Although the film is inspired by the story of Lord Ram, neither its narrative nor the characters should be viewed as revered deities… The story features contemporary characters of today...or societies, and their cultures, customs, practices, and traditions." The final runtime of the Diwali release is two hours and 24 minutes.

A unique comic caper

Even though Siddhant Chaturvedi hasn't struck gold with his theatrical outings, he continues to be offered interesting films. The actor has been signed on by producer Mahaveer Jain for a comedy to be helmed by ad filmmaker Ambar Chakravarty. The subject has two leading ladies opposite Siddhant. The makers are said to have approached Nora Fatehi and Sreeleela for the roles. While both the heroines have agreed in principle, the details are yet to be finalized. If all goes well, Ambar is slated to begin filming the yet-untitled comic caper in the first quarter of 2025.

Backing a Novel Cause

Akshay Kumar is batting for a unique initiative this festive season. He is said to have pledged R1 crore to Anjaneya Sewa Trust to feed the monkeys in Ayodhya every day, to celebrate the legacy of Hanuman's brave army in Lord Ram's war against the demon king Raavan. When approached by the trust for this cause, Akki responded by contributing generously. The Khel Khel Mein actor dedicated the initiative to his parents, Hari Om and Aruna Bhatia, as well as his father-in-law, late superstar Rajesh Khanna.

Holidaying together?

It appears that Janhvi and Khushi Kapoor have taken off for a holiday along with rumored beaus Shikhar Pahariya and Vedang Raina respectively. While neither of them have shared any pictures together, their individual posts indicate that they are all vacationing together. On Monday, the Kapoor sisters shared a picture by the beach and a funny video on their social media as they recreated Kim Kardashian and Kourtney Kardashian's lines from their reality show. Yesterday, Khushi's The Archies (2023) co-actor Vedang also posted a series of images from his beach holiday. Soon enough, his post was flooded with comments. "Khushi Kapoor takes good pictures," wrote a netizen, while another observed, "Together on a trip, Janhvi, Khushi and Vedang. He posts morning pictures and they post evenings." Yet another follower replied, "All four of you are in the Maldivess... Beachy guys."