Aditya Dhar has been hard at work on his ambitious superhero movie, The Immortal Ashwatthama, since the release of URI in 2019.
Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan were cast as the leads when the movie was first announced, and Ronnie Screwvala was financing the production. The epidemic, however, began in 2020, which caused the movie's release to be postponed. Samantha Ruth Prabhu, who had recently made a name for herself on the national stage with her performance in The Family Man, was chosen by the producers to take Sara Ali Khan's position once things returned to normal.
When Ronnie Screwvala relinquished control of The Immortal Ashwatthama to Jio Studios
Producer Ronnie Screwvala made the decision to move away from the project since films weren't performing well at the box office. Aditya Dhar, the filmmaker, was determined to do it, though, and he approached other producers in the industry until finally landing Jio as a financier. Jio's only need for The Immortal Ashwatthama was that Vicky Kaushal, the movie's star, be replaced because he lacked the marketability to support an expensive picture like Ashwatthama. Dhar hesitated before abandoning the notion of casting Vicky.
Vicky Kaushal, in Jio's opinion, cannot carry a movie as expensive as The Immortal Ashwatthama since the role calls for a star, not an actor. Samantha had to withdraw from the project, leaving it without any kind of cast. Once Jio joined the team, Aditya Dhar made the bold decision to cast heavily, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Aditya Dhar approached NTR Jr., Yash, and Ranveer Singh after making the decision.
Aditya Dhar requested NTR Jr. to star in his movie because Pan India cinema is currently popular, but the actor was not very enthusiastic about the idea. The identical concept was then presented to Yash, who once more declined to participate in the movie because superhero wasn't truly a genre. The movie was ultimately given to Ranveer Singh after he expressed interest but was forced to choose between The Immortal Ashwatthama and Shaktimaan. Of course, the latter is a larger IP, but the team is slaving over the script.
"For Ranveer, the script is important. Although he is eager to play Shaktimaan, the film's production team has yet to complete a screenplay. Although he hadn't said "no" to The Immortal Ashwatthama, he also didn't say "yes." When the film's budget could no longer be recovered, Jio ultimately decided to shelve the project, the source continued.
With this, The Immortal Ashwatthama suffers a loss of about 30 crore. "For the past three years, pre-production work has been ongoing. A significant amount of money was spent on pre-visualization, storyboarding, and reconnaissance. But all of it would be lost because the project's stakeholders feel that accepting a short-term cost of Rs 30 crore is preferable to making a longer-term investment of 300 to 350 crore," the source said.
With the intention of returning to The Immortal Ashwatthama once the market returns to normal,
Aditya Dhar will now move on to another movie.
