Parineeti Chopra paired opposite Akshay Kumar in Kesari

Filmmaker Karan Johar’s ambitious production Kesari finally has a female lead. Parineeti Chopra will be teaming up with Akshay Kumar for the film directed by Anurag Singh.

Johar revealed the development on his Twitter page where he said, “The lead actress in #KESARI is ........PARINEETI CHOPRA! @ParineetiChopra.” But we wonder why he shared Akshay’s solo picture to make an announcement on Parineeti.

This is the actress’s second film with Johar’s Dharma Productions after Hasee Toh Phasee (2014), which also starred Sidharth Malhotra and Adah Sharma.

Kesari will be the first time Chopra and Akshay will act together in a film.

The film is based on the battle of Saragarhi of 1897 fought between British and the Afghans. Akshay will be playing the role of Havildar Ishwar Singh who led the British army against the Afghans.

Akshay had recently shared his first look from the film on Twitter saying: “Feeling nothing but immense pride and gratitude while sharing this. Beginning my 2018 with #KESARI, my most ambitious film and a lot of passion. Need your best wishes as always.”

The forgotten chapter from India’s pre-independence history is now being brought on celluloid not through one, but three films. Ajay Devgn has used the subject for his Sons of Sardar: Battle of Saragarhi, while Rajkumar Santoshi is making a film with Randeep Hooda in the lead on the same historical chapter. However, it is Kesari that is likely to come first as Devgn's project is delayed and there is no word on the status of Santoshi’s film.