Mumbai: After the massive success of ‘Saiyaara’, fans are eagerly waiting for the announcement of Ahaan Panday and Aneet Padda’s next film.
Adding to the curiosity of fans, reports suggested that Ahaan has signed a three-film contract with YRF and Aneet could be replacing Kiara Advani in Maddock’s horror-comedy ‘Shakti Shalini’.
Now, Pinkvilla has reported states that Ahaan will be teaming up with ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ director Ali Abbas Zafar for YRF’s upcoming romantic-actioner.
“Ali Abbas Zafar has been developing an action romance with Aditya Chopra as his next directorial. Ali has won over the audience with brilliant dramas like Sultan, and even in an action film like Tiger Zinda Hai, he made the storytelling gripping due to the drama that he infused in the scenes. Ali wanted to go back to his roots, to the genre that has given him so much love with his next film. He was blown away seeing Ahaan Panday and his aura with emotional and dramatic scenes in Saiyaara,” a source was quoted as saying by Pinkvilla.
The source further shared that Aditya Chopra recommended Ahaan’s name to Zafar as he believes the newcomer’s “underexposure is his biggest strength”.
The script is apparently ready, and the film will go on floors early in 2026.
However, the news of Ahaan signing an action film, to be helmed by Zafar, has left netizens divided.
A fan claimed, “If Mohit Suri can make a comeback, Ali Abbas Zafar absolutely can. I just hope YRF fixes their VFX department, and I wonder who the female lead will be. Ahaan should do 1 film every 2 years to maintain intrigue about his projects; and definitely go the Ranbir/Ranveer route.”
Another user wrote, “He needs to work with big directors at this stage in his career. Sounds optimistic as it’s an ‘action romance’ so doesn’t sound like it will be a vfx or big budget mess (rumours are it’s a boxing theme). Looks like Ali is going back to his roots with this. If Mohit Suri can make a comeback after giving a flop, so can Ali.”
A section of netizens, on the other hand, believe that Ahaan’s decision to do an action film at this stage is wrong.
One user opined, “These filmmakers don’t understand that all the actors doing action today started with Romantic films created a fan base, maturity etc to be able to pull off an action film. Just because it’s working for Salman srk hrithik doesn’t mean people want to watch a 27-year-old do action.”
Another comment read, “Why are they doing this to him man. He needs to be in more romcoms/rom dramas. YRF needs to drop the obsession with action. It’s not doing good for them rn anyway.”
One fan claimed, “Ahaan could be maybe the next gen romance hero but well they are turning him into some action star in his second film. Doing different genres is good but in his second film? Like people are so sick of action that they gave so much love to a romance movie with great music. More great music than great story but it worked.”
AHAAN PANDAY TO LEAD ALI ABBAS ZAFAR'S NEXT FOR YRF!
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