Happy Birthday Kartik Aaryan: From Hera Pheri 3 to Aashiqui 3, he's become the go-to actor for carrying on a successful franchise

In the past couple of days, a lot of noise has been made regarding the casting of Hera Pheri 3. Earlier reports said that Akshay Kumar, Suniel Shetty, and Paresh Rawal would play the same iconic roles in the third movie. However, in no time, there was a report that Akshay had backed out. Soon after, Rawal confirmed on his Twitter account that Kartik Aaryan had been cast in the lead role. On Saturday, Akshay confirmed that he has backed out of the franchise and apologised to his fans for doing so.

The case in point here is how Kartik Aaryan has bagged yet another hit franchise and taken it forward. Since his debut, the actor has appeared in several sequels and remakes of films. Starting with his own franchise, he played the lead in Pyaar Ka Punchnama 2, which released four years after his debut film of the same name.

It's been 12 years since Kartik forayed into acting in Hindi movies, and till now, he has been announced for and starred in the sequels of around five films. On the occasion of his birthday, let's look at a franchise where the torch has been passed to the actor.

Seven years after Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge?, Paresh Rawal returned as an uninvited guest in Ashwni Dhir's Guest iin London, which featured Kartik Aaryan and Kriti Kharbanda in the lead roles. The film also features Tanvi Azmi in supporting roles and was a disaster at the box office. The first instalment featured Ajay Devgn and Konkona Sen Sharma alongside Rawal.

Imtiaz Ali's romantic comedy-drama Love Aaj Kal, which stars Kartik Aaryan and Sara Ali Khan, was released in 2020. On Valentine's Day of 2020, the film released theatrically. It is the spiritual sequel to the same-named Ali-directed Saif Ali Khan and Deepika Padukone movie from 2009. The audience and critics gave the movie varying ratings.

This year's one of the biggest Hindi movies turned out to be Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2, directed by Anees Bazmee. The movie, which stars Tabu, Kartik Aaryan, and Kiara Advani, is a stand-alone sequel to Bhool Bhulaiyaa (2007) and the second entry in the franchise. The story is about Ruhaan Randhawa, who has to pretend to be a fake psychic to deal with the ghost Manjulika's return. Manjulika is a bad ghost who wants to get back at the Thakur family. Akshay Kumar and Vidya Balan were in the first movie in the series, which Kartik took over.

In September of this year, Kartik Aaryan announced that he will be starring in Aashiqui 3, which will be directed by Anurag Basu. The first instalment of the hit musical franchise was released in 1990, directed by Mahesh Bhatt. The film starred Rahul Roy and Anu Agarwal in the lead roles. Mohit Suri brought the series back to life 23 years later with Aashiqui 2, a remake of Star is Born that starred Shraddha Kapoor and Aditya Roy Kapur. Now, a decade later, Basu will be directing the third part with Kartik, and the female lead is yet to be announced.

While sharing his excitement, Kartik said in a statement, "The timeless classic Aashiqui is something I grew up watching, and working on Aashiqui 3 is like a dream come true. I feel privileged yet grateful to be collaborating with Bhushan Kumar and Mukesh Bhatt for this opportunity. I've been a big fan of Anurag Basu’s work, and collaborating with him on this one will definitely shape me in many ways."

Now, we have to wait for an official announcement that Kartik Aaryan will be featuring alongside Paresh Rawal and Suniel Shetty in Hera Pheri 3. It's confirmed that the actor has replaced Akshay Kumar, as the latter spoke about it recently at the Hindustan Times Leadership Summit 2022.

Kartik Aaryan was all set to star in the second instalment of the Dostana franchise, produced by Karan Johar under his home banner, Dharma Productions. Janhvi Kapoor and Laksh Lalwani were also finalised to play the lead roles in the film. But in 2021, the production company said that the movie's cast would be changed. It was rumoured that due to the creative difference, Kartik had backed out of the project.