Success teaches you many things. It looks like Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’s recent success has taught Kartik Aaryan that leading a franchise is a smart tactic to connect with the audience, a lesson he is applying to his next. mid-day has learnt that the actor is keen that his romantic drama—which was initially planned as Aashiqui 3, but then reimagined as a stand-alone film—be restored under the Aashiqui franchise.

A lot has happened on the Aashiqui front since the third instalment was announced in 2022. At the time, Anurag Basu was to direct the Aaryan-led love story, with Bhushan Kumar and Mukesh Bhatt producing it. However, a tussle began between the producers over the franchise’s rights. Finally, this March, the T-Series head honcho announced that he alone was backing the Aaryan-Basu project, which was rechristened Tu Aashiqui Hai and was no longer a part of the Aashiqui franchise.