Dharma Productions has finally officially announced Badrinath Ki Dulhania, the sequel to the 2014 hit, Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania, starring Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan and directed by Shashank Khaitan. The director and lead pair will reunite for the second instalment of the Dulhania film franchise – being promoted as India's first love story franchise.
The first poster for the film has been released on Dharma Production’s Twitter page: @BKDMovie and @DharmaMovies.
Much hype preceded the announcement, with producer Johar, director Khaitan and the lead stars engaging in light-hearted banter on Twitter.
Dhawan tweeted: “Alia, Humpty needs his dulhania”, to which Alia fired back with: “Varun! Everyone needs a Dulhania.” They also teased to the film with a poster that posed the question: “Are they back?” Both stars were retweeted almost a 1,000 times, making #BadrinathKiDulhania a trending hashtag in India.
Earlier in the day, Dharma Productions released a 20-second video of Bhatt and Dhawan announcing that shooting for the film begins today.
While the filmmakers are being tight-lipped about details of the sequel, they have revealed that Badrinath Ki Dulhania will be set in rural Uttar Pradesh and will feature Dhawan and Bhatt in new roles.
According to a report in Mumbai Mirror, Khaitan started scouting for locations earlier this year and has finalised on Kota and Jhansi.
And while filming begins today, the lead actors have already spent more than a month been attending script sessions and readings to train for their characters’ North Indian accents.
The first schedule will be filmed in Mumbai, followed by a break, and shooting will pick back up in September. The break in filming is to accommodate the lead stars’ other commitments.
Dhawan, 29, will next be seen in July in brother Rohit's second film, Dhishoom. Bhatt, 23, is gearing up for next month's release of Abhishek Chaubey's much-awaited multi-starrer crime thriller, Udta Punjab.
Dhawan and Bhatt are also doing a two-week musical tour in the United States with their Student of The Year director Johar and co-star Siddharth Malhotra.
Badrinath Ki Dulhania is scheduled to be released next year on March 10.
artslife@thenational.ae
