Ambitious and prodigious project of Mohanlal ever.
If everything goes according to plans, the multilingual movie “The Mahabharata” starring Mohanlal as Bhima, based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s Jnanpith-winning novel ‘Randamoozham’, will become the costliest film ever made in the history of Indian movie industry.
According to reports, UAE-based billionaire businessman and philanthropist Dr. B R Shetty is all set to invest a whopping $150 million towards the production of the movie which will be the adaptation of Mahabharata.
MT Vasudevan Nair’s Jnanpith-winning novel ‘Randamoozham’ showcases the epic through the eyes of the second of the Pandavas, Bhima.
In a recent television interview, Mohanlal had confirmed that the discussions about the movie are on and plans are to complete it by 2020. The actor also confirmed that he will play the lead role of Bhima, in what he calls is the most ambitious and prodigious project of a lifetime.
“The film will be a coming together of the crème de la crème of Indian and global cinema in terms of its cast and crew. The technical crew would include some of the great names in the world cinema including some academy winners. The cast will have the best talents from Indian cinema as well as some big names from Hollywood,” the official press release read.
According to the release, the movie will be directed by noted ad filmmaker VA Shrikumar Menon and will come out in two parts like in Baahubali. The preproduction work of the movie will commence soon and the makers expect to start the shooting by September 2018 and release the first part in early 2020.
The makers also plan to release the second part of the movie within 90 days after the release of the first part. It has to be noted that makers of Baahubali took two years to announce the release date of the second part, which will release later this month.
The film will be shot primarily in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu and will be dubbed into major Indian languages and leading foreign languages.
“The Mahabharata is an epic of all epics. This movie will be a true ‘Make in India’ made for the world. The Mahabharata mesmerizes as well as brings focus on life and living,” Dr. BR Shetty said in a statement.
“I believe that this film will not only set global benchmarks but also reposition India and its prowess in mythological storytelling. I am confident that this film will be adapted in over 100 languages and reach over 3 billion people across the world,” he said.
“I’m extremely happy with Dr. BR Shetty’s belief in the potential of the story and his passion and commitment to take it to global audiences. I sincerely congratulate him for his vision in backing a project of this scale,” Padma Bhushan MT Vasudevan Nair, recipient of almost every literary award in India including the Jnanpith, said.
‘The Mahabharata’ will be the most expensive film ever made in Indian cinema, outstripping Rajinikanth’s 2.0 and the Baahubali series.