Jr NTR on Janhvi Kapoor's Devara casting: "She manifested this..."

Jr NTR, Saif Ali Khan, and Janhvi Kapoor play the key roles in Devara Part 1. Jr NTR plays both father and son, Devara and Varadha. Saif portrays Bhaira, and Janhvi as Thangam.

Fans are excited to see Janhvi Kapoor and Jr NTR on the screen together in their upcoming film Devara: Part 1. Several fans wondered how Janhvi landed her Telugu debut role. Jr NTR recently shared how the actress 'manifested' the role and that filmmaker Karan Johar also called him and recommended Janhvi for the film. 

Jr NTR opens up on Janhvi's Telugu debut 

Jr NTR revealed that during the scripting and crafting of the story, they did not have any actress in their mind for the female lead. The makers had initially had no 'intention' to cast Janhvi Kapoor for the role of Thangam. However, by the end of the script, the 41-year-old actor shared that the makers were convinced to cast her for the role. 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.”

Jr NTR surprised by Janhvi Kapoor's fluent Telugu 

The actor added that, despite her desire to portray the role, Janhvi was concerned about learning Telugu and living up to her mother Sridevi. He shared that how 'shocked' he was with Janhvi's amazing performance. He said, "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.”

Devara Part 1 release date and cast 

Jr NTR, Saif Ali Khan, and Janhvi Kapoor play the key roles in Devara Part 1. Jr NTR plays both father and son, Devara and Varadha. Saif portrays Bhaira, and Janhvi as Thangam. Shriti Marathe, Prakash Raj, Srikanth, Shine Tom Chacko, and Narain portray supporting roles in the film, which hits theaters on September 27.

The film marks Jr. NTR's first solo release in six years, following Trivikram Srinivas' 2018 blockbuster Aravinda Sametha Veera Raghava. This film marks as the Telugu debut of both Janhvi Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan.