The Immortal Ashwatthama gets shelved after facing 30 crore loss

Filmmaker Aditya Dhar has been working really hard on his ambitious project The Immortal Ashwatthama. The director has been on the project since the release of URI back in 2019. Earlier, the film was announced with Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan in the lead, with Ronnie Screwvala bankrolling the project, but pandemic delayed the project in 2020.

Makers of the film replaced Sara with Samantha Ruth Prabhu. Post pandemic, films were not doing well at the box office, hence producer Ronnie Screwvala backed off from the film. Aditya Dhar finally got JIO on board to bankroll the film, on one condition that Vicky Kaushal must be replaced to another star.

A source close revealed “Jio felt Vicky Kaushal can’t carry a film as expensive as The Immortal Ashwatthama as the film warrants the presence of a star and not an actor. Samantha on the other hand had to back off from the project leaving the subject without any sort of cast. Once Jio came on board, Aditya Dhar decided to go ambitious with his casting,”

Aditya Dhar approached NTR Jr. and Yash to lead his film, however, the actors were not too keen on the subject. The film finally got Ranveer Singh on board, however, but he had to make a choice between The Immortal Ashwatthama and Shaktimaan.

“For Ranveer, it’s about the script. While he is excited to play Shaktimaan, the team of the film is yet to crack a screenplay. He had not said a no to The Immortal Ashwatthama, but it was not a yes either. Eventually, Jio decided to shelve the film thinking that the budget recovery is not possible,” the source added.

Source concluded by saying, “The pre-production work has been going on for the last 3 years. Ample of monies have been spent on recce, pre-visualisation as also the story board. But all of it will be wiped off as the stakeholders believe that taking a hit of Rs 30 crore is better than investing 300 to 350 crore on the project in the long run,”