Anya Singh has bagged the female lead in Vikram Bhatt's 1920: Cold Winter, according to a source cited by Bollywood Hungama, putting her opposite Ahan Shetty for the second time this year.

The two last shared screen space in Border 2, where Shetty played Lt Cdr Mahendra Singh Rawat and Singh played his wife, Sudha. That film did solid business at the box office. This one is a different genre entirely.

A source told Bollywood Hungama the makers were "impressed by Anya's screen presence and talent" and felt she suited the part. The actor, who broke through with The Ba***ds Of Bollywood, is reportedly stepping into horror for the first time in her Hindi film career.

1920: Cold Winter is the sixth entry in Vikram Bhatt's long-running horror series, and it comes with its own recent momentum. Bhatt and producer Anand Pandit announced the project just weeks after Haunted – Echoes Of The Past put up numbers nobody quite expected. Shetty's casting was reported back in July. The film is expected to go on floors in November this year.

A franchise with an uneven scorecard

The 1920 series has never had a consistent hit rate, which makes each new instalment a bit of a gamble. The original 1920 (2008), directed by Bhatt, launched Adah Sharma and Rajniesh Duggal and did average business. 1920: Evil Returns (2012), with Aftab Shivdasani and Tia Bajpai under Bhushan Patel's direction, landed as a semi-hit. 1920 London (2016), directed by Tinu Suresh Desai and starring Sharman Joshi and Meera Chopra, flopped outright.

Bhatt then took full charge of 1921 (2018), which he wrote, produced and directed with Zareen Khan and Karan Kundrra in the leads. That one came in as an average grosser. 1920: Horrors Of The Heart (2023), starring Avika Gor and Danish Pandor, was Bhatt's first film with Anand Pandit as producer and did reasonably well.

So Cold Winter arrives as a franchise that has survived on cult recall more than box office consistency, riding into its sixth outing on the back of a director-producer pairing that's just had one unexpected win with Haunted. Whether Singh and Shetty's chemistry from Border 2 carries over into a genre neither has attempted together is the obvious question, and one the trailer will eventually have to answer.

For now, the official word from Bhatt's or Pandit's camp is still pending. Casting news like this typically firms up once the film is closer to its floor date, and with November not far off, an announcement from the production itself shouldn't be too far behind.