Ishaan Khatter, Ananya Panday to star together in Khaali Peeli

After his romantic drama Dhadak (2018), there hasn't been an announcement for a new film for Ishaan Khatter. Well, the wait is finally over after more than a year as he has bagged his next feature film titled Khaali Peeli (2020). The film will see him paired opposite Ananya Panday, who recently debuted in Student Of The Year 2 (2019). 

Khaali Peeli will be produced by Zee Studios and co-produced by Ali Abbas Zafar. This is his first production project after directing several biggies like Sultan (2016), Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) and Bharat (2019). The film will be directed by Maqbool Khan. 

Khaali Peeli translates to ‘unnecessarily' in Hindi and also rhymes with ‘Kaali Peeli,’ the nickname given to Mumbai’s local taxis because of their colours, black and yellow. The first look shared from the film with Khatter and Panday also has a Mumbai taxi in the background. 

Revealing more about the film, an official statement from the producers said, “Set in the maximum city, Mumbai, Khaali Peeli is a young, edgy roller-coaster ride that kick-starts one night, when a boy meets a girl. The audiences’ excitement is bound to soar as this film will bring Ishaan and Ananya Panday together for the first time on the big screen.” 

Zafar explained the process of how the film got shaped and promised to make another big announcement soon. “Khaali Peeli’s process has been organ [as] Maqbool, Himanshu [Kishan Mehra, co-producer] and I worked on the script for almost a year and when we thought it was completely baked, we took it to this enthusiastic young cast," he said. 

"I am happy that Zee Studios is producing this film with us, apart from the other massive film we are working on. We will announce our next big collaboration soon as well,” he added.

Khatter will also been seen in Mira Nair's BBC adaptation of the Vikram Seth's novel, A Suitable Boy, where he is starring with Tabu. Ananya, on the other hand, is starring in the remake of Pati Patni Aur Woh (2019) along with Kartik Aaryan and Bhumi Pednekar.

Khaali Peeli will begin filming on 11 September and the film is due to be released on 12 June 2020.