Ranveer Singh is set to star in Aditya Dhar's next film - a big-budget project which also includes Sanjay Dutt, R Madhavan, and Arjun Rampal. The stars themselves had shared this announcement a few months ago on social media. Now, a new report has claimed that Ranveer will be paired opposite former child star Sara Arjun in the film. And their 20-year age gap has not gone down too well with the internet. 

Sara Arjun opposite Ranveer Singh

While there are no official details about the casting of the female lead in Aditya Dhar's yet-untitled film, a Peeping Moon report claims that 19-year-old Sara Arjun has been cast as Ranveer's character's love interest. The former child actor has worked extensively in the south and is noted for playing the younger version of Aishwarya Rai's character in Ponniyin Selvan (2022-23). As per Peeping Moon, "Although her role is said to be relatively small in this male-dominated story, this film (by Aditya Dhar) marks her transition to a lead heroine after years of being known as a child actress in Hindi and Telugu cinema."

Internet reacts to Sara-Ranveer pairing

But given that Sara Arjun is 19 and Ranveer Singh 39, the news has not gone down too well with many fans. After a clipping of the news was shared on Reddit's BollyBlindsNGossip subreddit, Redditors criticised the makers for pairing these two actors. "She was 5 years old when Band Baaja Baarat released," wrote one, referring to Ranveer's debut film from 2011. Another added, “Eww 39 year old romancing a teenager!?? How did they think this was ok.”

Many were quick to point out that not Ranveer but the makers were to be blamed for this casting choice, however. One fan commented, "Ranveer didn't choose her as heroine .. so no need to demonise him." But by and large, the community lamented the prevalence of this large age gap in Bollywood pairs.

And it is not recent as many pointed out. "Don't Deepika and Anushka both have 20+ age gap with SRK and they both debuted when they were around 19-20 age," asked one fan. Another promptly answered, "Ya that was also disgusting and so is this."

The film's makers have not confirmed or denied the news of Sara's casting in the film but there had been reports that the teen star had been looking at projects to transition from a child actor to a mainstream heroine.

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