Karan Johar announces Takht, confirms star cast of Kareena, Alia, Ranveer

Karan Johar is bringing back the multistarrer with his new directorial project.

The filmmaker announced his film, Takht, a historical set in the Mughal era, earlier today.

The big-budget period film, due to be released in 2020, which Johar called an "epic battle for the majestic Mughal throne", will star Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor Khan, Alia Bhatt, Vicky Kaushal, Bhumi Pednekar, Janhvi Kapoor and Anil Kapoor.

For the past few days, it was rumoured that Ranveer Singh, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Alia Bhatt are the leads of the new film. Ranveer Singh will likely play the heir to the throne, challenged to the position by his greedy younger brother.

Vicky Kaushal has reportedly joined the project as Ranveer Singh's younger sibling. Kareena Kapoor Khan is said to play their sister while Alia Bhatt is supposed to play Ranveer Singh's love interest. Bhatt and Ranveer Singh are also co-starring in Zoya Akhtar Gully Boy (2019).

Pednekar and Janhvi Kapoor's casting is a surprise. For the newcomer Kapoor, her second film after Dhadak (2018) is a prestigious project. Finally, veteran actor Anil Kapoor is also part of the project, working with Karan Johar for the first time.

Takht's screenplay has been written by Sumit Roy while the dialogues have been co-written by Roy and lyricist Hussain Haidry.

Roy has previously written the screenplay for Zubaan (2015). He also wrote for the television series Chandragupta Maurya in 2011.

While Johar's announcement did not name any characters or historical figures that the lead cast might be playing, the plot indicates that this could be the story of Dara Shikoh and his brother, Aurangzeb.

Dharma Productions seems to be exploring different genres of film. In 2019, the production house has lined up Kesari (2019), a period film on the Battle of Saragarhi, with Akshay Kumar, Kalank (2019), another multi-starrer set during Partition with Madhuri Dixit, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt, and Brahmastra (2019), a fantasy film with Ranbir Kapoor as a superhero.