After much speculations about if Janhvi Kapoor or Sara Ali Khan will bag the female lead role in Simmba, Karan Johar confirmed today that it is Sara Ali Khan who gets the role. She will be cast opposite Ranveer Singh in the movie that is the official remake of Telugu blockbuster Temper, starring Jr NTR, that will be directed by Rohit Shetty. Sara will be taking on Kajal Aggarwal's role from the original. Karan Johar had tweeted, "Sara Ali Khan in #Simmba with @RanveerOfficial directed by ROHIT SHETTY! Releasing on the 28th of December 2018 ! This winter gets hotter!!!!"

Now while her casting in the movie is interesting enough, there is another intriguing factor in the announcement. While it was earlier announced that Simmba was supposed to come out on December 28 of this year, Karan Johar's tweet confirms there is no change in the release date. So what should it mean for a normal Bollywood fan?

First of all, Simmba's release date comes a week after Kedarnath's release date. And as you know, Kedarnath is reportedly Sara Ali Khan's debut, where she is paired opposite Sushant Singh Rajput. The spiritual love story, directed by Abhishek Kapoor, is set against the background of the tragic Uttarakhand floods. It was supposed to come out on December 21. And that's where the whole problem began...

December 21 is also the date where Shah Rukh Khan's much hyped Zero is also coming out. Kedarnath's co-producer KriArj Entertainment was not too interested in clashing with Shah Rukh Khan, however, Abhishek kapoor was adamant on the release date. This led to some spate between KriArj's Prernaa Arora and the director, leading to the production house backing out and taking the director to the court. The production of the movie was reportedly stalled, but later things seem sorted out. Abhishek Kapoor later put up a picture with his lead pair, Sushant and Sara on Twitter, to show that they have begun the second schedule and everything is fine.

However, nothing has progressed much beyond that picture. Sushant is busy shooting for Abhishek Chaubey's Sonchiraiya and he will soon start work on The Fault in The Stars Remake. It was reported that both Sara's parents, Saif Ali Khan and Amrita Singh, are concerned about the fractured production of the movie. Now that Sara Ali Khan has been confirmed for Simmba, we do wonder if this mean Kedarnath is not longer her debut.

When Zoom contacted Prernaa Arora about this, she had this to say, "I am happy about her signing Simmba. It's good for her, it's good for me." The producer also confirmed to the publication that the second schedule will begin soon and that Sara would be available for both the movies. She also mentioned that they would make a new announcement about  the movie, as an“internal discussion is on". So this definitely hints at Kedarnath being postponed.

So smart move, Sara. But then it's another ball-game coming a week after a Shah Rukh Khan movie. That's a discussion for another story!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 20, 2018 04:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).