For those wondering how Janhvi Kapoor landed her Tollywood debut, Jr NTR recently shared how she was cast for Koratala Siva’s Devara: Part 1. Talking to Indian Express, the actor shared that Janhvi ‘manifested this’ and that Karan Johar also called him to recommend her. 

Jr NTR on Janhvi’s Telugu debut

Jr NTR shared that during scripting they hadn’t yet zeroed in on who would play Thangam and they initially had no ‘intention’ to cast Janhvi. By the end of scripting, he shares that they were convinced and cast her. He said, “Honestly, while writing the script, we hadn’t zeroed in on anybody to play the female lead. Karan Johar called me and said Jahnvi is a bright actor, and we should have her in the movie. Even then, the intention wasn’t there to cast her, but she manifested this so much that by the end of the writing process, we couldn’t not cast her in Devara.”

The actor stated that despite wanting to play the part, Janhvi was nervous about speaking in Telugu and living up to her mother Sridevi. But he says he was ‘shocked’ by how well she performed, “She had a lot of fear and tension within her. How would she speak Telugu? How would she deliver her performance in Telugu? How would she dance, and most importantly, would she be able to live up to the legacy of Sridevi garu. Let’s be honest, Sridevi garu will never leave us. And that halo will never be lifted off Jahnvi too. But she just shocked us with her performance.”

About Devara: Part 1

Devara: Part 1 stars Jr NTR, Saif Ali Khan and Janhvi Kapoor in the lead roles. Jr NTR plays dual roles - father and son, Devara and Varadha. Saif plays Bhaira and Janhvi plays Thangam. Shruti Marathe, Prakash Raj, Srikanth, Shine Tom Chacko and Narain play supporting roles in the film that will be released in theatres on September 27.

The film is Jr NTR's first solo release in six years after Trivikram Srinivas' 2018 film Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava. Koratala's last film Acharya with Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan underperformed at the box office and gave him his first flop. Janhvi and Saif debut in Telugu with this film, the former has already signed another Telugu film with Ram.

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