Kartik Aaryan and Karan Johar may be heading back to a film together, and this time it is not Dostana 2. Trade reporting cited by India Weekly says Aaryan is attached to Kaaliya, a large-scale mythological creature feature for Dharma Productions, directed by Sandeep Modi of The Night Manager.
The project is in pre-production. Shooting is being planned for December 2026, with an official announcement expected around Diwali. Its first announcement video is expected to travel with prints of Ramayana, the report adds. No official word has come from the studio yet.
A source quoted in the report calls Kaaliya the banner’s “biggest and most ambitious” film to date.
From Dostana 2 to a guarded silence
The reported collaboration lands after one of Hindi cinema’s most discussed off-screen breaks. In 2021, Dharma Productions said it would recast Dostana 2 even though Aaryan had already shot parts of the film. The studio said it would keep a dignified silence.
Aaryan mostly resisted public comment. At Agenda AajTak he declined to discuss the film directly; in another conversation he said his bigger worry was how speculation affected family members who were not in the film business. In 2022 he used the phrase “baat ka batangad” to say a lobby story had been inflated. Promoting Shehzada in 2023, he said the younger person in a disagreement should not speak, and called the fee-related reports around his exit “Chinese whispers.” His reticence became a public position: let the work answer.
A careful repair
- 2021: Dharma recasts Dostana 2; Aaryan steps away from public comment.
- November 2023: Dharma announces a Kartik-led film on his birthday; Aaryan calls Johar a “powerhouse.”
- After the thaw: Johar says the two sorted the dispute internally and decided to move on, praising Aaryan’s work ethic.
What Kaaliya changes
For Hindi film followers, the significance is not the old controversy but the kind of film being attempted. A mainstream mythological creature feature is a departure in scale and visual grammar, and attaching its reveal to Ramayana prints is a signal: Dharma wants the announcement to inherit a primed, mythologically inclined audience rather than live only on social feeds.
Aaryan’s pattern has been to let the work answer. Fronting a large-scale genre film for the same banner would be the clearest evidence yet that the split is behind both parties. At minimum, the report reframes a story that had long been told as a break; at maximum, it suggests Dharma is placing one of its largest bets with the actor it once removed from a franchise. Until the studio confirms it, Kaaliya remains a strong trade report rather than an official project. The Diwali reveal, if it comes, will be the moment to judge the scale, title and casting—and whether this is a one-film reconciliation or the start of a longer partnership.
Source: India Weekly
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