Mohanlal to essay role of Bheema in Shrikumar's magnum opus Mahabharatha

VA Shrikumar Menon, the ad filmmaker who turned director, will direct 'Mahabharatha'. The film is based on Jnanpith award winner MT Vasudevan Nair's classic novel Randamoozham.

“I met MT Vasudevan Nair two years ago and told him I am interested in making Randamoozham into a film. But he said it would require a canvas that was far larger than what regional Indian cinema could offer and that’s why he had never written a screenplay despite a lot of demand.
I promised him I would bring in the best technicians by making it a “global” film. He then got to work and he gave me a fully bound script within four months,” told Shrikumar Menon.

Shrikumar Menon is the man behind large advertisement campaigns like Kalyan Jewellers and Manapuram Finance.

“The film will go on floors starting September 2018 and we expect the release by early 2020. It will have master copies in five languages (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and English) with an international version being with an adapted screenplay to suit Hollywood standards.”

Well talking about the cast, the director told Mohanlal would be playing the role Bheema. “The film is seen from the point of view of Bheema and his emotional turmoil. Though the film will include cast members from across the world, we were sure that only Mohanlal would be able to play the role of Bheema.”

According to Shrikumar, BR Shetty (Chairman of UAE Exchange), the producer of the movie says that it should be made with a 1000 Rs. crore budget. “As he sees it, no one should be able to attempt a film like this again. As it is an immortal epic of India, he said it should be a film that takes Mahabharatha to the world. It should be as popular as Greek Mythology after the film releases.”

The director has strong belief that it will be easy to recover film's large budget as the film has already a market around the world.