Is Tiger Karan Johar’s student of the year?

Filmmaker Karan Johar has signed actor Tiger Shroff to play the lead in the sequel to Student Of The Year (SOTY). And we’ve got to know from a source close to Johar that it won’t in any way be connected to the first.

KJo’s 2012 hit directorial gave the film industry three young stars — Sidharth Malhotra, Varun Dhawan and Alia Bhatt. “The first SOTY film was a love triangle set in a college campus, but the second won’t have another leading man. It’s a solo-hero film,” says the source. “Karan has always been a Jackie Shroff fan. Working with his son is something he wanted to do from the time Tiger was ready to make his debut,” adds the source.

With Tiger in a film, rest assured there will be dance and action. And apparently, the sequences will be stylised to showcase Tiger’s stunt moves. “Karan wants to showcase Tiger’s dancing and action abilities,” says the source.

Earlier, there was buzz that actor Shahid Kapoor’s younger halfbrother Ishaan Khattar and Saif Ali Khan’s daughter Sara Ali Khan were to play the lead roles in the film. There’s no confirmation on the female lead as yet.

Actor Tiger Shroff (left), who’s gearing up for a superhero film, brands his father, actor

Jackie Shroff (below), his first superhero. In a recent interview, the 26-year-old talked about his Jackie’s superhero film, Shiva Ka Insaaf (1985), being his all-time favourite film.

“As a child, I used to watch that film over and over again. Every son’s first superhero is his father. For me, he was Superman and Batman combined,” said Tiger. Recalling the time he would watch his dad doing superhero stints, Tiger — who has acted in films such as Heropanti (2014) and Baaghi (2016) — said: “I loved seeing my dad play the desi superhero. It came naturally to him. He was tall, well-built and his body language automatically rendered itself to the superhero mould. I, on the other hand, had to work hard to fit in to that mould.” The actor’s upcoming film has been making headlines because of its comparison with actor Hrithik Roshan’s superhero Krrish franchise.

On being asked if he wishes to act in a remake of any of his father’s films, Tiger had earlier said: “I’d like to work in the remake of Parinda (1989; also starring actor Madhuri Dixit). This film is particularly close to my heart.” Filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra has already made a loose remake of the film with his Hollywood debut Broken Horses, which starred Thomas Jane and Anton Yelchin.

PHOTO: ROHAN SHRESTHA

PHOTO: SHIVAM SAXENA/HT