Meet Sara Arjun, 20-year-old opposite Ranveer Singh in Dhurandhar; was India's richest child actor, star of ₹800-cr film

Sara Arjun, who plays the female lead opposite Ranveer Singh in Dhurandhar, is a former child actor who has worked in a ₹800-crore franchise.

The first look of Ranveer Singh's upcoming film, Dhurandhar, was unveiled on Sunday to mark the actor's 40th birthday. The Aditya Dhar film is a spy thriller and also stars Sanjay Dutt, Akshaye Khanna, Arjun Rampal, and R Madhavan. But what caught the eye of many fans was the fleeting glimpse of the film's female lead. The young actor is Sara Arjun, who has been a prominent child actor for years, and is now making her debut as a lead with the film.

Sara Arjun plays the female lead opposite Ranveer Singh in Dhurandhar.

Who is Sara Arjun?

Born in 2005, Sara Arjun is the daughter of actor Raj Arjun and a former child star. She was just over 1 year old when she appeared in her first commercial after she was spotted at a mall with her parents. She was noticed after appearing in Deiva Thirumagal, the 2011 Tamil film in which she played Vikram's daughter. Over the years, she appeared in Ek Thi Daayan, Saivam, and Saand Ki Aankh.

India's richest child star

In 2022, Sara appeared in her most high-profile film role to date - as a young Nandini - in Mani Ratnam's two-part period epic, Ponniyin Selvan. The two films grossed ₹800 crore worldwide, making it her biggest success. Aishwarya Rai played Nandini in the epic with Sara playing her teenage self. It was reported by Siasat and Gulte in 2023 that Sara's net worth in 2022, after the success of the films, Sara had a net worth of ₹10 crore, making her the richest child actor in India. After she turned 18, the mantle passed on to Riva Arora.

Sara Arjun in a still from Ponniyin Selvan.

Sara Arjun in Dhurandhar

Sara's involvement in Dhurandhar was first reported by Peeping Moon last year. As per Peeping Moon, "Although her role is said to be relatively small in this male-dominated story, this film (by Aditya Dhar) marks her transition to a lead heroine after years of being known as a child actress in Hindi and Telugu cinema." The first look of the film shows her in three scenes - first dancing in a club, then riding pillion with Ranveer's character, and finally sharing a dance with him.

Presented by Jio Studios, a B62 Studios production, Dhurandhar is written, directed, and produced by Aditya Dhar, produced by Jyoti Deshpande and Lokesh Dhar. There have been speculations that the film is based on the life of Indian super spy and National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval of the surgical strike fame, but the makers have been mum on it. The first-look video does confirm that the film is indeed based on real incidents.