Bharati Dubey (MID-DAY; April 18, 2015)

Makers of the upcoming Aamir Khan-starrer, Dangal, had been on an intense hunt to zero in on the girls to play his on-screen daughters. In the film, the actor will be seen as wrestling coach Mahavir Phogat, who trained three Commonwealth Games gold medalists, including his daughters Geeta and Babita Kumari, to success. Now if sources are to be believed, the makers have finalised a young athlete from Haryana to essay Geeta’s part.

Earlier, there were reports that Akshara Haasan, Taapsee Pannu and Deeksha Seth were being considered for the role. Says a source, “Over 15,000 girls were auditioned in Haryana, includingTaapsee and television actress Kritika Kamra. But the production team selected a local athlete.”

The film’s director, Nitesh Tewari, dismisses the buzz.

Nayandeep Rakshit (DNA; March 13, 2015)

In his next film Dangal, based on the life of wrestler Mahavir Phogat, Aamir Khan will be playing father to three daughters. A source close to director Nitesh Tiwari informs, “Taapsee Pannu, Deeksha Seth and Akshara Haasan are the ones Nitesh has talked to and he feels they are perfect for the roles. Taapsee has shown great promise and Nitesh was bowled over by her performance in Baby. Her character needs to be agile and athletic. The number of stunts she pulled off in Baby is commendable.” Deeksha and Akshara have auditioned for the film, but they haven’t been finalised yet. “Nitesh has liked their auditions but no one has signed on dotted lines yet. Once they do, the announcements will be made officially,” revealed another source from the production.

BOMBAY TIMES (July 3, 2014)

The first day of shooting, that too for a song, in Mumbai's J J School Of Art was difficult. Reason being its close proximity to Mumbai Police Headquarters. As director Arif Ali says, “Every time we played the song, cops would come and ask us to stop the music. How could we shoot without the song? We had lots of shots lined up for the day and I was worried if I'd be able to get through as we had permission only for that day to shoot there."

As a part of the actors' workshop before the shoot, Arif and producer Dinesh Vijan took Armaan Jain and Deeksha Seth to a nightclub in Goa. After partying hard, they intentionally left Armaan behind, without any mode of transport. He managed to return to the hotel only by 4 am.

After another night of partying, the four were returning to the hotel on motorcycles. Unfortunately, Dinesh and Deeksha's motorcycle ran out of fuel on the way. Arif and Armaan were oblivious to this fact and reached the hotel. Meanwhile, the actress and the producer were left stranded until a jeep stopped by and the driver offered to help them.

Dinesh calls the director 'the youngest guy on the team' because of his youthful exuberance. He recalls, “At the party after wrapping up the Goa schedule, Arif jumped into the pool and landed on his head. The next two weeks, he shot with a cast around his neck."

When on the set, Armaan would always be asking questions. The makers joke that the actor would be a clear winner in college contests like JAM - Just A Minute, in which the participants are required to talk non-stop for a minute. “Armaan would easily ask the most questions in a minute," smiles Arif. Deeksha was called 'Google Rani' on the set. “She's very curious and is an avid reader. She'd give gyaan on everything,“ says Arif.

While Deeksha was told to click a picture every day, Armaan was asked to do breathing exercises and practise meditation. The actor was also assigned the task of making short films, as that would enable him to perform better as an actor.

Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, produced by Illuminati Films and Eros International, releases July 4. 

Seema Sinha (BOMBAY TIMES; June 30, 2014)

Deeksha Seth, who will make her Bollywood debut with Arif Ali's Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, has seven outings down South to her credit -six in Telugu and one in Tamil.

In LHDD, Deeksha plays Karishma Shetty, a fun-loving and rebellious college girl from Mangalore, who is passionate about photography. She wants to marry for love and elopes with her best friend, played by Armaan Jain. “The story is about our journey, and my character has a beautiful emotional graph," she says.

Interestingly, debutant Armaan was a bit intimidated by his co-star in the beginning. “Somebody told him that I had already done half a dozen movies. So, he was a little reserved and I thought he didn't like me. Then one day, we got chatting and realised that we were wrong about each other," recalls Deeksha, saying she was never jittery about entering Bollywood.

“I was familiar with the whole film environment, but LHDD is a very real story and I have never done anything like this before. So, while Armaan was learning, I was unlearning," says the actress, who is great friends with him now.

Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, produced by Eros International and Illuminati Films, releases July 4.

Garima Sharma (BOMBAY TIMES; May 7, 2014)

Summer gets a dose of romance with director Arif Ali’s debut film Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, which marks the entry of Raj Kapoor’s grandson Armaan Jain and actress Deeksha Seth in Bollywood. Arif, director Imtiaz Ali’s brother, tells the story of two friends, who face the consequences of their decisions and then learn from them.

Says producer Dinesh Vijan, “The film is all about making mistakes and growing up. It reflects the ‘act first, think later’ sentiment of today’s youth and how relationships fail over unrealistic expectations. We are excited about our collaboration with A R Rahman too. He has created a young and new sound, which is unlike anything we have heard before.”

Adds producer Sunil Lulla, “After Love Aaj Kal and Cocktail, we are excited to team up with them yet again after. This is the perfect movie to continue our association with generation next love stories.”

Lekar Hum Deewana Dil, produced by Eros International and Illuminati Films, releases July 4.