Revealed: Not Ankita Lokhande, Ashima Vardhan bags the lead in Ekta Kapoor's Dev DD

The cast of Ekta Kapoor's bold take on Devdas Dev DD has been finalised - read deets!

By Shweta Mahesh
Published: January 7, 2017 12:51 PM IST

Finally, Ekta Kapoor has found her lady 'Devdas' and this time it's a fresh new face and a rookie newcomer. Many popular faces were considered for the role of lady Devdas in Ekta's forthcoming digital show 'Dev DD'. Popular names like Ankita Lokhande, etc were doing the rounds. However, Ashima Vardhan has emerged as the chosen one to play the bold and sexy Devika. And joining Devika will be a couple of guys, whose characters will be on the lines of Paro and Chandramukhi from the epic novel. Vinod Khanna's nephew, Akhil Kapur will be the Paro and Sanjay Suri will be the Chandramukhi. The show will be modern feminist take on Devdas. It will be directed by Ken Ghosh. The shoot of show will begin this week in Mumbai. Also Read - Yeh Rishta Kya Kehlata Hai: Did Rajan Shahi find support from Ekta Kapoor for his sudden decision to axe Shehzada Dhami, Pratiksha Honmukhe?

Dev DD will be Ashima's first show as an actress. She plays Devika and her role will be similar to that Shah Rukh Khan's self-destructive one in Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Devdas. Anurag Kashyap also made Dev D with Abhay Deol in the lead. Ashima is called Devika in the show with a rock star attitude and solid convictions. Unlike Ekta Kapoor's TV serials Devika will challenge the good girls been shown so far. The show will be bold not just in form but in content as well. Akhil Kapur will play the role of Paro. He was last seen in a film called Desi Kattey. He is trained in marital arts and has worked as an assistant director on films like Salaam E Ishq , Race and Honeymoon Travels. Akhil is trained in acting from the USA. Like his cousins, Akshaye Khanna and Rahul Khanna, Akhil wants to keep his family legacy of actors going.

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While Sanjay Suri will play the role of Chandramukhi on the show. He plays Anurag, a complex but romantic character in the digital series. Ekta always wanted to make Devdas on TV. In fact she attempted the same with Star Plus' Tere Liye with Harshad Chopra and Anupriya Kapoor as well. But since TV has its own restrictions she could never tell the tragic love story in her style. Now, with Dev DD she plans to show a new Devdas that will shock the audience. Devdas is actually a novel by Bengali novelist Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay, which was told on celluloid in Hindi, Bengali and other regional languages. Right from the days of silent films in 1928 to 2009 many Devdas' were created . The most famous being P C Barua's K L sehgal starrer in 1936. Later in 1955, famous Bollywood filmmaker Bimal Roy made a mainstream Devdas with legendary Dilip Kumar , Suchitra Sen and Vyjayanthimala. Later after many years Sanjay Leela Bhansali presented a opulent Devdas in 2002 . The film was a classic and starred mainstream stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Madhuri Dixit Nene and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan.

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Later, Dev D by Anurag Kashyap was a modern funky adaption of the classic. On TV, shows like Tere Liye , Ardhagini and Sanjog Se Bani Sangini were inspired from Devdas. Similar to Ekta's show a Bengali film starring Paoli Dam is also on the way. Titled Devi this one is also a modern day take off on Devdas from a female point of view. Dev DD will premier on Balaji Telefilms digital platform ALT Balaji along with string of many other shows very soon this year.

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ByShweta Mahesh
Published: January 7, 2017 12:51 PM IST