Madhu Mantena to produce ₹600 crore Ramayana, billed as India’s most ambitious film ever

Former partner at Phantom Films, producer Madhu Mantena will produce a ₹600 crore adaptation of the Ramayana.

Madhu Mantena is producing an adaptation of the epic Ramayana, said to be budgeted at ₹600 crore. The project has been in the writing phase for a year.

Producer Madhu Mantena Varma seen at a club in Mumbai's Juhu.(IANS)

The news arrives while a separate project, said to be a big-budget web series, is being produced on the Mahabharata. Recent reports suggest that Aamir Khan is attached to star as Krishna.

Mantena had earlier stated that his vision was inspired by the life work of Ananth Pai (Uncle Pai) of the popular Amar Chitra Katha comics.

 

The film will be shot in 3D and will be released as a three-part series and will be release in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu.

Ramayana is backed by a triumvirate of film producers, Allu Aravind, Namit Malhotra and Madhu Mantena who have collaborated for the first time to make India’s most ambitious project. The most expensive Bollywood film is Thugs of Hindostan, made on a reported budget exceeding ₹300 crore. The recent Rajinikanth-Akshay Kumar blockbuster, 2.0, is said to be the most expensive Indian film ever made. It was produced on a reported budget of close to ₹550 crore.

Mantena was previously a partner in the now defunct Phantom Films, with directors Anurag Kashyap, Vikramaditya Motwane and Vikas Bahl. The company announced its dissolution hours before sexual harassment allegations were made against Bahl.

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