Mumbai Saga: Kajal Aggarwal, Samir Soni join cast of John Abraham, Emraan Hashmi's gangster ensemble

Kajal Aggarwal has been announced as the female lead in upcoming gangster drama, _Mumbai Saga_ . The film is helmed by Sanjay Gupta, who has previously directed films like Kaabil, Shootout at Wadala, and Kaante. Kajal plays John Abraham’s love interest in the film, according to Mumbai Mirror. “The most important thing is that my gangster films often also have strong female characters. The character starts off as John’s girlfriend, then becomes his wife. So, I needed an actress who could play a 17-year-old college girl, a young wife and then, a strong woman in her 30s,” says Sanjay about casting Kajal in Mumbai Saga. [caption id=“attachment_7240471” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Kajal Aggarwal and Samir Soni. Images from Twitter[/caption] Popular television actor Samir Soni, who was last seen in Student of the Year 2, has also boarded the cast. The actor begins shooting for his part from 31 August, reports DNA. Samir tells the publication Mumbai Saga marks his first negative role onscreen. To prepare for his role, Samir says he has been watching crime films like Goodfellas (1990) and Casino (1995). He adds he has been waiting to portray a dark character for a while now because “playing a good husband or father is uni-dimensional.” The cast and crew of Mumbai Saga kickstarted their first day of shoot on 27 August in Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi temple. Mumbai Mirror adds they filmed a confrontational scene between rival gangsters John and Amole Gupte. Other cast members include Emraan Hashmi, Jackie Shroff, Suniel Shetty, Prateik Babbar, Gulshan Grover, and Rohit Roy. Set in the 1980s-’90s, the film revolves around all that went into transforming Bombay into Mumbai. The film, a Times of India previously reported, will showcase the shutdown of iconic textile mills, the murder of a noted businessman, and how the underworld, the cops, and the politicians changed the city’s landscape. The project is produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar, Anuradha Gupta, and Sangeeta Ahir. It will hit the theatres on 19 June, 2020.