Mom Sridevi wanted a role like this for me: Janhvi Kapoor on Sairat remake Dhadak

The much-awaited trailer of Dhadak was launched today. The film marks the debut of late actress Sridevi’s daughter, Janhvi Kapoor. The young actress was close to her mother. Interestingly, there is a touch of destiny attached to Janhvi making her debut with Dhadak. Dhadak is the official remake of the Marathi film, Sairat  (2016) directed by Nagraj Manjule.

At the trailer launch of Dhadak, the young Kapoor shared an interesting story.  “My mother asked me to watch Sairat with her. After watching it, I felt that a film like this should be my first film. We had a discussion over it and even she wanted a role like this [Archana Patil from Sairat] for me,” said Janhvi.

As destiny would have it, Dhadak, the remake of Sairat, fell into Janhvi’s lap.  It was producer Karan Johar who approached the Kapoor family. The Dharma Productions' head honcho credited fashion designer Manish Malhotra for helping him get Janhvi for Dhadak.

“Manish Malhotra is like a fashion father of the family. He is one who is very close to the family. He always spoke about Janhvi, to the point I felt even I started to know her well. Then I met the family. I told them about my film. I met Janhvi alone too, asked her to recite a few poems, dialogues. The way she read it, I saw an excitement in her eyes, an excitement to face the camera. We felt she would shine,” said Johar.

Talking about casting Ishaan Khatter, Johar said, “I followed him on Instagram. I remember telling [half brother] Shahid [Kapoor] that I want to meet your brother [on reality show adjudicated by Johar and Kapoor]. Then one day, he just turned up. I saw him, I like his personality, body language,” added Johar.

Meanwhile, Khatter shared his story of how Dhadak came into his life.

“I knew [director] Shashank [Khaitan] from the time he made Humpty Sharma Ki Dulhania (2014). One day, he asked to me drive with him. He was going to watch Sairat. He took me along. While travelling, he told me he wants to make the film with me,” said Khatter, who was surprised. The actor added that after watching the film he was totally consumed by the film.

Sairat will be released on 20 July.