The upcoming sci-fi project 'The Immortal Ashwatthama’, starring Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan has been put on hold. Producer Ronnie Screwvala released a statement stating that the film’s shoot has been put on hold for another “six to nine” months - owing to the cost of the production of the movie crossing its allocated budget.
A source in the know spills the beans. “Director Aditya Dhar had made the war epic Uri for a mere Rs 25 crore though it looked like a 100-crore budgeted film. That’s because Aditya comes from the less-is-more school of filmmaking.”
Explaining his tight budgetary vision, Dhar had told me in an interview, “We worked under extremely tight budgetary circumstances in Uri ,and that was good. Because it kept us constantly on our toes, forever anxious. I think anxiety is a big impetus to productivity and creativity. I fear unlimited budgets would make me lazy as a filmmaker. I’d rather work within controlled budgets. My aim as a filmmaker is to make a film look large, far more spectacular than the budget would suggest. I’d like to spend Rs 30 crore. But it should look like a 150-crore film.”
About Ashwathama, Aditya had said, “It will be a completely different world from the one in Uri. But still in the real space, Yes, it is again based on a true-life event. And that’s all I can tell you. And of course I can also tell you that my next film too will be produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP production house. The way Ronnie, and for that matter Vicky Kaushal, stood by Uri and believed in it, I’d be foolish to change my priorities.”
Ronnie Screwvala said in a statement, “In the last draft of the script, the ambition of the movie and the budget did not match and the overall uncertainty fuelled by COVID, did not help. So all of us – Aditya (Dhar), Vicky (Kaushal) and I – decided that we need to put this back for another six to nine months."
“Sara (Ali Khan), also agreed. We will have to work more on the budget and circle back when things look better overall for the magnum opus which Ashwathama is being planned as,” he added.
Image Source: Instagram/moviereviewsblog