Avinash Lohana (MUMBAI MIRROR; March 27, 2018)

Soon after Sara Ali Khan was brought on-board as the leading lady in Rohit Shetty’s Ranveer Singh-starrer, the cop caper Simmba, Mirror has learnt that Sonu Sood has joined the cast in a pivotal role. “I am a huge Rohit Shetty fan. When actors come to the industry they want to do certain kind of roles. He makes them look like characters who inspire people from smaller towns to become actors. I am really looking forward to this collaboration,” asserts Sonu, adding that this is one of the most special roles of his career so far.

The actor will start shooting for the film, which marks the debut collaboration of Rohit and Karan Johar, in the next few weeks. “We are still working on my look. Rohit bhai and I will make sure that it is one of the most talked about screen avatars of the year,” promises Sonu, whose Chedi Singh from another cop caper, Salman Khan’s Dabangg remains unforgettable.

While speaking to Mirror earlier (November 13, 2017), Rohit had informed that Simmba is a hardcore commercial action film that neither Ranveer nor he has done before. “We have bought the rights of the South film Temper (the 2015 Puri Jagannadh directorial featuring NT Rama Rao Jr) from which our film is inspired,” the filmmaker had added.
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Hiren Kotwani (DNA; March 27, 2018)

The makers of Simmba have found their villain. R Madhavan, who underwent a surgery for an injury, has been ruled out of action till he recovers completely. Now, Sonu Sood has been finalised for the role in the Ranveer Singh-starrer helmed by Rohit Shetty, who is also co-producing it with Karan Johar. The film is slated to release on December 28.

FIRST-TIME FACE-OFF
This is the first time that Sonu will be acting with Ranveer in a film. Says a source, “Ranveer and Sonu have great physiques. They will match each other really well on the big screen. This will be a face-off to watch out for.”

SHADES OF GREY
An industry insider tells us that the paperwork will be completed soon as this development took place in the last few days. A source says, “It’s a strong character with grey shades and considerable screen time. Interestingly, the buzz was also that before Madhavan, Abhishek Bachchan was considered for this part.” But with this development, it looks like Sonu has a great year ahead. His line-up includes Manikarnika and Paltan, which revisit different times in history. A commercial entertainer film like Simmba would be an apt way for him to end 2018.