Tiger Shroff’s debut film Heropanti (2014) has turned into a franchise with Heropanti 2.
The action star is to romance his SOTY 2 co-actor Tara Sutaria in this sequel. However, Sutaria was not the 1st choice for Heropanti 2!
Yes, that’s right. Bollywood Hungama reports that Sara Ali Khan was on the maker’s radar for the movie and the deal was almost locked, but she was later shockingly dropped from the film!
That’s because, in the aftermath of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death, Sara Ali Khan’s name had cropped up in the Bollywood Drugs Probe by the Narcotics Control Bureau. She, along with actresses Deepika Padukone, Shraddha Kapoor and Rakul Preet Singh had also been thoroughly grilled by the anti-drugs agency.
When the news had broken out, the Boycott trend had gripped the nation and the actresses were brutally trolled for the highly publicised scandal. Fearing backlash, producers reportedly replaced Sara with Tara instead in Heropanti 2.
A source told Bollywood Hungama, “Sara was immediately dropped from Heropanti 2. Tiger Shroff who shares a warm bond with his Student of The Year 2 co-star Tara Sutaria told the producers to sign Tara instead. Tara, being an outsider with no family backing, served as the perfect replacement for Sara. While the makers didn’t want to do this, they also had no choice but to go ahead with this plan in order to save the project.”
On the work front, Sara’s Coolie No 1 with Varun Dhawan is scheduled for a Christmas Premiere on Amazon Prime Video. She’ll also be seen opposite Akshay Kumar and Dhanush in Aanand L Rai’s Atrangi Re.