The actress last seen opposite Akshay Kumar, will feature in the Satyameva Jayate sequel
Roshmila Bhattacharya (MUMBAI MIRROR; May 23, 2019)

Nine months after its Independence Day release, Satyameva Jayate is gearing up for a sequel. The vigilante action-drama will once again have John Abraham at its fulcrum. But the real surprise is that it will feature Divya Khosla Kumar opposite him in the Milap Zaveri directorial.

Divya debuted in Anil Sharma’s 2004 war-drama, Ab Tumhare Hawale Watan Saathiyo, as Akshay Kumar’s leading lady. On February 13, 2005, she married T-Series head honcho Bhushan Kumar and moved behind the scenes. After a course in cinematography and editing, she went on to direct around 20 music videos. In 2014, she helmed the coming-of-age musical romance Yaariyan, followed by Sanam Re two years later. Now, she is ready to return to acting and according to a source close to the development, has signed up for Satyameva Jayate 2.

“Milap had fleshed out strong characters for John and Manoj Bajpayee in the first part. This time, he has written a memorable leading role for Divya. While SMJ 2 will still pack a lot of punches, this time around it will be a commercial family entertainer with a patriotic flavour. What drew her to the project is that the role is integral to the narrative and will present her in an interesting light,” informed the source, pointing out that the actress was last seen in a short film, Bulbul, in which she had played several different characters.

The original which opened on the same Friday as Akshay’s sports-drama Gold, was a cat-and-mouse chase between a senior inspector, Shivansh, played by Manoj, and John’s hooded killer, Virendra Rathod. The vigilante threatened to rid the city of all corrupt cops to avenge his father’s death. High on blood and gore, it brought back memories of the action films of the ’70s, featuring Amitabh Bachchan, Dharmendra and Vinod Khanna among others.

Speaking to Mirror (Jan 7), John had said, “The sense of heroism was lost till Satyameva Jayate came along and reiterated that this country needs heroes… With the senior heroes getting too senior and the younger heroes still being boys, you need a man who can run through walls and break down doors. I’m going to be the action hero for the masses.”

According to the source, Milap has locked the final draft of SMJ2 and is in the process of ironing out other details before he gets into prep. The film is expected to go on the floors soon after the release of his next, Marjaavaan, on October 2, which has Sidharth Malhotra up against four-and-a-half feet Riteish Deshmukh. “Today it is content that sells and so this is the right time for Divya to be back in the spotlight,” the source concluded.