Shraddha Kapoor bags 'Aashiqui 2'

It's final. After the massive talent hunt for new faces to star in 'Aashqui 2', the sequel to the pioneering historic 1990 musical hit 'Aashiqui' which launched the careers of Rahul Roy and Anu Aggarwal and established Nadeem-Shravan among the most successful music-composing duos of all times, three people have been shortlisted to share the limelight in the new-age 'Aashiqui'.

While the two guys in the love triangle would be played by Shaad Randhawa and Aditya Roy Kapoor, the girl who has bagged the female lead in 'Aashiqui 2' is none other than Shraddha Kapoor.

The pretty petite daughter of veteran villain Shakti Kapoor, Shraddha's career has been suffering a string of false starts and glitches. After an inglorious launch in the Amitabh Bachchan-starrer 'Teen Patti', Shradha was supposed to play the lead opoosite Prateik in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's production of 'My Friend Pinto'. The role passed on to Kalki Koechlin and Shraddha ended up doing the Yashraj film 'Luv Ka The End', which did nothing for her career.

Now, the Bhatts have taken charge of Shraddha's career.

Confirming her presence in 'Aashiqui 2', producer Mukesh Bhatt says, 'Yes, Shraddha Kapoor is playing the lead with the two boys Aditya Roy Kapoor and Shaad Randhawa. We found her to be very talented. All three actors have extremely challenging dramatic roles.'

'It's not a film about only looking good, singing and dancing. These are performance-oriented parts. And we're convinced that 'Aashiqui 2' would do for Shraddha, Aditya and Shaad what the first 'Aashiqui' did for Rahul, Anu and Deepak Tijori.'

The buzz is that 'Aashiqui 2' is a remake of the Bhatts' 1990 Anil Kapoor-Meenakshi Sheshadri-Govinda love triangle 'Awaargi'.

However, Mukesh Bhatt denies this. ' 'Aashiqui 2' is not a remake of any of our films. It's an original script. A very contemporary love story dealing with mature emotions.'

Signficantly, the pathbreaking music score from the 1990 musical blockbuster 'Aashiqui' will not be repeated in the sequel.

Promises Mukesh Bhatt, 'We're completely resisting the temptation of carrying over Nadeem-Shravan's chartbusters from 'Aashiqui' into 'Aashiqui 2'. Jeet Ganguly is doing completely original songs in 'Aashiqui 2'. While 'Aashiqui' had 11 songs, 'Aashiqui 2' will have only 7 songs.

'But it would be hard for listeners to decide which of the 7 songs they like the best. We promise you 'Aashiqui 2' will revive the era of melodious film music, just like 'Aashiqui' had done 22 years ago.'

Interestingly, after the star hunt for 'Aashiqui 2', all the three main roles have gone to star kids. While Shraddha Kapoor is Shakti Kapoor's daughter, Shaad Randhawa who was launched by the Bhatts as a villain in 'Woh Lamhe' is yesteryears' legendary actress Mumtaz's nephew. And Aditya Roy Kapoor launched by Vipul Shah in 'Action Replayy' and Sanjay Leela Bhansali's 'Guzaarish', is UTV's Siddharth Roy Kapoor's kid brother.