The speculation over who will be cast opposite Shahid Kapoor in Shree Narayan Singh’s social drama Batti Gul Meter Chalu now comes to an end. According to PeepingMoon.com sources, Shahid’s leading actress will be Shraddha Kapoor. The actress, who was last seen in the non-starter Haseena Parkar, has okayed the film which is scheduled to go on the floors in early 2018 and release on August 31. Her character will be that of a philosopher and guide who helps Shahid in his fight against injustice.

When Shree Narayan Singh announced his next directorial venture after the runaway box-office hit Toilet: Ek Prem Katha, Katrina Kaif was considered to be the forerunner for the lead actress’ role. But as the director along with his writers Siddharth Singh and Garima Wahal started his recce for the film in Uttarakhand, and visited places like Haridwar, Dehradun, and Rishikesh, Kat’s name was replaced by Ileana D’Cruz. However, Shahid in a media interaction insisted no heroine had been signed for Batti Gul Meter Chalu as yet.

After months of speculation, some sections of the media reported that it was neither Kat nor Ileana but the Befikre actress Vaani Kapoor who would star opposite Shahid in Batti Gul Meter Chalu. They claimed that Vaani had held a series of meetings with the film’s producers Prernaa Arora and Arjun Kapoor. However, PeepingMoon.com refutes the story and says it will be Shraddha Kapoor who will play the lead in Shree Narayan Singh’s film.

The film is about a common man’s fight against electricity theft. Shahid reportedly plays a lawyer in Batti Gul Meter Chalu who takes on the power distribution companies that make its consumers pay huge bills. It was earlier believed that the film would be a serious legal drama. But after the success of Toilet; Ek Prem Katha, in which a social message was powerfully packed into a script that had romance and comedy as well, the filmmakers decided to rework the script of Batti Gul Meter Chalu and make it a light comedy.