Sanyukta Iyer (MUMBAI MIRROR; June 6, 2018)

Filmmaker Rohit Shetty and his leading man Ranveer Singh took off to Hyderabad on Tuesday for the start-to-finish, two-month schedule of their cop-comedy Simmba which rolls today at Ramoji Film City. The ensemble cast, which also features Sonu Sood, is joined by Sangharsh and Dushman actor Ashutosh Rana, who has a crucial role in the film. By the team’s estimates, the upcoming comedy is expected to be bigger, better and wackier than Shetty’s 2011 Ajay Devgn-starrer Singham, which was the highest grossing action-comedy of its time.

Buzz is, Devgn is expected to make a special appearance in the Ranveer-starrer and Simmba is poised to become a stepping stone towards an ultimate Singham-Simmba crossover franchise — a first of its kind for Bollywood. “But it is in nascent stage at this point of time,” a source close to the development informs Mirror.

After wrapping up the Zoya Akhtar-directorial Gully Boy in April, Ranveer took off for a short workation to Switzerland and ever since his return, he has been beefing up for the whacky cop role, which also has him sporting a moustache.

Meanwhile, his leading lady Sara Ali Khan, who makes her Bollywood debut with Abhishek Kapoor’s Kedarnath opposite Sushant Singh Rajput, will be simultaneously shooting for Simmba. The actress was spotted at the airport later in the day as she left for the schedule with actress-mother Amrita Singh. In the film, she plays Ranveer’s love interest and the two are expected to film an over-the-top dance number later this month.