New Delhi, Aug 10 : Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt has zeroed in on a 10-year-old girl named Arsheen Namdaar as the lead for his new TV series â€œNaamkarannâ€.

The show, which will be on air next month, explores the journey of a 10-year-old who carves her own identity and takes charge of her own destiny.

â€œArsheen is a born actress and she\'s a perfect fit for Avni\'s character. Just like Alia (Bhatt) stunned everyone including me with her outstanding performance in \'Udta Punjab\', this girl Arsheen is going to stun everyone,â€ Bhatt said in a statement.

Talking about the show, the 67-year-old, who is known for his hard-hitting and realistic films, added that since the medium of TV can bring about a change in mindsets, he chose to use the platform to tell a story which was challenging and questioning social norms.

â€œ\'Naamkarann\' is my most thought provoking project yet with my strongest female lead as Avni (Arsheen),â€ Bhatt said.

On bagging â€œNaamkarannâ€, Arsheen said: â€œThe entire cast and crew is very sweet and takes care of me. Especially Bhatt Sir is very nice and encourages me a lot. We all are actually waiting for the show to startâ€.

The show will be aired on Star Plus.

Mahesh Bhatt casts 10-year-old as lead for new show