Mumbai: Ram Madhvani’s series – Aarya with which Sushmita Sen made a phenomenal comeback to entertainment after a hiatus of 10 years, was reportedly first offered to Raveena Tandon.
“Netflix and Ram Madhvani wanted Raveena for Aarya. This was when the original script was converted from a feature film to a full-fledged web series. Kajol was to do Aarya as a feature film with Ajay Devgn as producer. Eventually, the project passed on from Kajol and Devgn to Netflix. Director Ram Madhvani and Netflix were then keen on Raveena Tandon to play the protagonist Aarya Sareen,” a source from the core team told Bollywood Hungama.
Raveen, however, declined the offer, the report added.
According to a 2020 Pinkvilla report, “When Ram Madhvani was planning this project – a remake of the 2010 gritty drama series Penoza, it was originally being made into a Hindi feature film. Kajol was his first choice and they were in advanced talks with the actress for the film. She had loved the concept and the storyline but had to step out last minute citing personal issues.”
He then thought of casting Sushmita, who had a commanding screen presence.
Aarya’s season 2, also featuring Susmita, is now streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
Notably, the actress recently made her way back digitally through Netflix thriller series Aranyak.
