SCOOPS: Neha Kakkar beats Shah Rukh Khan on Instagram, Bhumi Pednekar to have a cameo in her next with Vicky Kaushal

Popular Bollywood songstress Neha Kakkar, who has gained stardom, thanks to her hit numbers like Dilbar (Satyamev Jayate), Aankh Marey (Simmba) and Coca Cola (Luka Chuppi), clocked over 20 million followers on Instagram on March 6. She has since garnered 20.3 million followers. Interestingly, this is more than some of our B-Town superstars like Shah Rukh Khan who has 16.4 million followers, Varun Dhawan and Shahid Kapoor, who have 18 million and 17.2 million followers respectively. Neha is quite active on social media and doesn’t shy away from posting pictures, videos and Insta stories from her personal and professional life. That probably could be the reason for her popularity on the photo-sharing site.

When a filmmaker sets out to revisit one of the biggest battles of history for the big screen, you can be sure it will be a colossal affair. However, it looks like Ashutosh Gowariker is all geared up to create history with his magnum opus, Panipat, starring Arjun Kapoor, Kriti Sanon and Sanjay Dutt. From putting together an adept technical team to casting actors who’ve earned acclaim for their performances to creating majestic sets, the maverick movie-maker is sparing no effort in giving audiences a one-of-its-kind cinematic experience with his historical.

What’s more, we hear that Ashutosh has roped in 110 actors for Panipat and apparently, each one of them will have a substantial part in it. Casting director Rohan Mapuskar, who locked the final cast after a month-long research and auditions, says, “The Third Battle of Panipat lasted for several days and involved almost 125,000 troops, so you can imagine the scale of it. There were many important people involved in this battle, hence we had to cast so many actors in the film. Ashutosh has envisioned the film on a huge scale, and Panipat will definitely be a grand cinematic experience.”

Shraddha Kapoor, who makes it a point to keep her fans updated about the goings-on in her life by posting pictures on Instagram, has garnered 28 million followers. Till a couple of months ago, the Stree actress and her rival Alia Bhatt had the same number of followers at over 23 million. In fact, there was a point when Shraddha was slightly ahead with 23.7 million followers while Alia had 23.6 million. However, things have changed since then. And now, the Kalank actress has raced ahead with 29.3 million followers. But with the two going neck to neck, the situation can change anytime!

Last year, when the announcement for Karan Johar’s Takht was made, it seemed like the period film will have a fresh pairing in Bhumi Pednekar and Vicky Kaushal. But before that movie kicked off, the two actors have teamed up for another film. After Hrs was the first to inform you that Vicky and Bhumi will be sharing screen space in Bhanu Pratap Singh’s directorial debut, which is being produced by Dharma Productions, along with Shashank Khaitan. Now, we hear that Bhumi merely has a cameo in it. Says a source, “Bhumi has an important but small part to play in the horror drama. She has just about 10 days of shoot because it’s more like an extended special appearance.”

Kesari is creating abundant buzz among film buffs. The Akshay Kumar-Parineeti Chopra-starrer’s trailer has garnered a lot of appreciation. The warfare sequences and stunts in the movie also look incredible.

The film is based on the historic 1897 Battle of Saragarhi, which is known to be one of the bravest battles ever fought on Indian soil. Centuries later, the audiences will now see this fierce story on celluloid.

Akshay stars as the leader of the army of 21 Sikh soldiers who fought against 10,000 invaders. The Anurag Singh directorial is a true story of valour, sacrifice and patriotism.

The makers have left cinegoers intrigued with powerful posters. The movie’s songs such as Sanu Kehndi and Ajj Singh Garjega, too, are ruling the music charts. 

Kesari, produced by Hiroo Yash Johar, Aruna Bhatia, Karan Johar, Apoorva Mehta, Sunir Kheterpal and presented by Zee Studios, releases on March 21.