EXCLUSIVE: Rakul Preet Singh and Neena Gupta to star in Ashish R. Shukla’s next comedy thriller

Rakul Preet Singh and Neena Gupta are set to join forces in an unconventional comedy-drama directed by Ashish R. Shukla, known for his work on the critically acclaimed series, Undekhi.

By Rahul Raut

Published on Sep 28, 2023 | 12:45 PM IST | 289.5K

EXCLUSIVE: Rakul Preet Singh and Neena Gupta to star in Ashish R. Shukla’s next comedy thriller (Picture Courtesy: Instagram)

Rakul Preet Singh has firmly established herself as a prominent figure in the Indian film industry over a career spanning 13 years. She has appeared in numerous significant productions in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada, and continues to balance her career between Bollywood and the South Indian film industry. Most recently seen in Jio Cinema's I Love You, Rakul has an impressive lineup of four upcoming movies: S. Shankar and Kamal Haasan’s much-awaited Indian 2, Sivakarthikeyan’s sci-fi drama Ayalaan, Mudassar Aziz’s Mere Husband Ki Biwi with Arjun Kapoor and Bhumi Pednekar, and the De De Pyaar De sequel with Ajay Devgn. Now, we hear she has added one more exciting project to her already illustrious lineup.

Pinkvilla has exclusively learnt that Rakul Preet Singh has now signed a comedy thriller to be directed by Ashish R. Shukla, known for helming the critically acclaimed crime-thriller series - Undekhi. Rakul will star alongside Badhaai Ho actress Neena Gupta in this yet-untitled film, described as a “uniquely crafted comedy”. Both actresses will headline the narrative alongside a talented supporting cast and will begin shooting for the film by the end of October in Mumbai. Sunir Kheterpal, known for producing movies like Rocky Handsome, Badla, Kesari, and Bloody Daddy, is backing this comedy under his banner Athena ENM, marking his second association with Rakul Preet Singh after the recently released I Love You, directed by Nikhil Mahajan.

Rakul is expected to wrap up her film with Neena Gupta by December, and may follow it up with an action film early next year. She is in talks to frontline a women-led action flick but hasn’t signed it yet. Ajay Devgn’s De De Pyaar De 2, meanwhile, is scheduled to go on floors in the first quarter of 2024. Neena Gupta, on the other hand, had a release just yesterday with Vishal Bhardwaj’s SonyLIV series, Charlie Chopra & The Mystery of Solang Valley. Going ahead, she has the late Satish Kaushik’s last film, Kaagaz 2, and Anurag Basu’s Metro…In Dino on her slate. Producer Sunir Kheterpal also has two movies lined up for release this year: Soumendra Padhi’s Farrey, which marks Salman Khan’s niece Alizeh Agnihotri’s acting debut, and Taapsee Pannu and Arvind Swamy-starrer Empire, directed by Vijay Lalwani.

We reached out to Rakul, Ashish R. Shukla and Sunir Kheterpal for confirmation. However, we are yet to hear back from them.

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