Ananya Panday was never the director’s first choice for “Liger.”

Puri Jagannadh, the director of Liger, recently revealed that he first approached Janhvi Kapoor for the lead role in the film before hiring Ananya Panday.

According to the Hindustan Times, the filmmaker told the media, “I am a big fan of Sridevi ji, so I wanted to cast Janhvi Kapoor, but her dates were not available.”

Puri later approached Karan Johar for advice on the film’s leading lady, who recommended Ananya.

Liger will be released in theatres on August 25th, starring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya.

It will be available in a variety of languages, including Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.