Chetan Bhagat, who penned the romantic bestseller 2 States, opened up about the movie’s early casting choices.

In his latest interview, he said that Shah Rukh Khan and Priyanka Chopra were first thought of for the lead roles before Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt joined the film.

Speaking to Pinkvilla, the 51-year-old author revealed that the project was first supposed to be directed by Vishal Bhardwaj and big Bollywood names were being eyed for the movie.

He noted, “There was a time Vishal Bharadwaj was going to make it. There was a time when Shah Rukh Khan, Saif Ali Khan, and Priyanka Chopra’s names were talked about. I think 2 States sabhi ke naam ka article to aaya hi tha.”

The screen writer admitted he was initially uncertain about the casting choice when newcomers were announced. 

As he stated, “To be honest, when they said, there is a new director and it's Arjun Kapoor who had one movie and Alia Bhatt who had one movie, Student Of The Year. I was like ‘okay’, but this is not what was discussed.”

He later appreciated the move, adding that it gave the film a refreshing edge, saying,  “It was such a nice casting, and it made the movie fresh because they were young. If it were older actors, I don't know, maybe they would have done a great job. But it was very surprising.”

For the unversed, Arjun was last seen in Mere Husband Ki Biwi, which didn’t do well at the box office. Before that, he portrayed the role of villain in Singham Again.

Meanwhile, Alia's last release Jigra hit theatres in October but it also couldn’t perform as expected. The actress is currently busy filming her next project titled Alpha.