Aamir Khan had last year during the promotions of Secret Superstar admitted that he has a dream project and that was to make a movie on Indian epic Mahabharata. Around the same time buzz was that SS Rajamouli, who was fresh out of the stupendous success of Baahubali 2: The Conclusion was planning to make a film on the same subject and had approached Aamir, Amitabh Bachchan and Katrina Kaif were also considered for some important roles. Rumours suggested that Rajamouli wanted Big B to play Bheeshma, Aamir to play Arjuna and Katrina for Draupadi’s role. Of course, the Eegafilmmaker rubbished these reports and literally went underground after his film’s release and subsequent success at the box office. So, when we heard news of Aamir Khan working on Mahabharata we were not one bit surprised. The actor we hear will start work on this magnum opus project after he completes Yash Raj Films’ Thugs Of Hindostan. According to southern journo Ramesh Bala, AK has signed the dotted line and has even manged to get India’s biggest businessman Mukesh Ambani on board for this movie. While the two Baahubali movies were made at a budget of Rs 500 crore, Aamir’s Mahabharata will cost the makers a whopping Rs 1000 crore. This will end up becoming the biggest Indian film ever made in terms of budget.
Incidentally, southern superstar Mohanlal is also working on a Rs 1000 crore movie project based on the same epic. Mohanlal’s film will be an adaptation of MT Vasudevan Nair’s classic Randaamoozham. This film will be the Mahabharata story, but Bheema’s version of it. This movie will for the first time bring together Mohanlal with another south superstar Akkineni Nagarjuna, who confirmed that he was approached by the makers for Karna’s part. This film is supposed to go on floors from September this year. In fact, Mohanlal has already started prepping for his role. Just like Baahubali, the makers have planned to have the movie in two parts. The mega project will be shot in six languages, which include Hindi, English, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Malayalam. The makers are aiming to release the film sometime early 2020. Also read: Amitabh Bachchan, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan roped in for Mohanlal starrer ‘Randamoozham’?
Coming back to Aamir’s Mahabharata, the actor had hinted at the characters that he’d like to essay on screen. Talking about Mahabharata adaptation for 70mm, he had said, “My dream project is to make the Mahabharata but I’m afraid of starting the project as I know it will consume at least 15-20 years of my life. My favourite character is Karna, but I don’t know if I’ll be able to play him due to my physique. I may just have to play Krishna. I also liked the character of Arjun. He was the only person who asked Krishna why he had to kill his own people.” Don’t miss: When Preity Zinta signed Shah Rukh’s Kal Ho Naa Ho, Rani Mukerji cried on Aamir Khan’s shoulder
The big unanswered question is who will helm this project that has so much riding on it? Will Mukesh Ambani and Aamir Khan rope in the Baahubali director? Well, might not be a wild guess considering that Aamir had said this about the filmmaker in the same interview, “I’m a huge fan of Rajamouli’s work and if he ever plans to make Mahabharata, I’d love to play Krishna or Karna. I might actually go with Krishna.”
Aamir Khan is currently filming for Thugs Of Hindostan. The actor was to work in Rakesh Sharma biopic titled Salute, however reports now suggest that the actor has withdrawn from the film and is no longer associated with the movie. Was this a hint that Aamir Khan is ready to take on a movie likeMahabharata? Well, watch this space for more updates…
