Arjun Kapoor prepping for role in 'Half Girlfriend'

The actor has been secretly undergoing Bhojpuri dialect and accent-training for the past three weeks to play a lover boy in Mohit Suri's upcoming romance.

Arjun Kapoor, who had flown off to Buenos Aires on November 5 for a monthlong schedule for an upcoming reality show, where he plays the host, returned to Mumbai, tanned and tired, on December 16. But while he had been locked away in the Argentinian capital, he managed to sign Mohit Suri's upcoming romance drama, Half Girlfriend, based on Chetan Bhagat's novel of the same name.

Incidentally, the 30-year-old actor was seen in another adaptation of Bhagat's bestseller, 2 States, opposite Alia Bhatt, in 2014. "That film was a box-office success so Arjun was more than willing to gamble on another adaptation. He has always admired Mohit's films and green-lit the project over a telephonic chat," a source close to the development informed Mirror.

"Yes, Arjun is doing Half Girlfriend. He has been quietly prepping for the film ever since he returned from Argentina," the actor's spokesperson confirmed.

While the rest of Bollywood is reeling from New Year's Eve excesses, Arjun has been undergoing Bhojpuri dialect and accent training over the last three weeks. He is also spending two hour daily on the basketball court to convincingly play Madhav Jha, a small town basketball player with big dreams.

"Half Girlfriend is a quintessential Bollywood love story about unrequited love in which the boy chases the girl across different countries over time. Arjun has several different looks in the film as he ages from a teenager to an aged founder of a school. He has been prepping up diligently," the source revealed.

Reportedly, there were several other Bollywood actors in contention for the lead pair. There were speculations about Parineeti Chopra reuniting with her Ishaqzaade hero too. But Mirror has learnt that it will be Shraddha Kapoor opposite Arjun, making it a fresh jodi for 2016.

Meanwhile, Mohit Suri who has worked with Shraddha in Aashiqui 2 and Ek Villain earlier, had been away in New York, working on the screenplay, and doing a recce. The film is expected to roll in February and will be shot across Mumbai, London and New York and parts of Bihar.

This year, Arjun will also be seen in R Balki's Ki and Ka, a gender-bender rom-com, co-starring Kareena Kapoor.

Arjun plays a stay-at-home husband to Kareena's high-flying, corporate-chic missus.

"Ki and Ka is an urban take on what happens after the first rush of love has receded while Half Girlfriend is a desi journey to discovering love. The two films will present Arjun in two very different avatars this year," added the source.