Aditya Dhar reveals why The Immortal Ashwatthama was shelved; says budget was ‘too big’

In a press meet during the launch of the trailer of Article 370, Aditya Dhar revealed why his ambitious project was shelved.

After the success of Uri: The Surgical Strike, filmmaker Aditya Dhar aimed big and wanted to make a film titled The Immortal Ashwatthama. It was rumoured that Vicky Kaushal or Allu Arjun would play the titular character and despite speculation that the film was in pre-production, it never took off. At the launch of Article 370’s trailer, Aditya finally gave an update on the project. (Also Read: Yami Gautam opens up about her pregnancy for the first time: It's surreal my baby was part of Article 370)

‘It’s too big for Indian cinema’

A concept poster of The Immortal Ashwatthama

Talking to the press, Aditya said, “We have put that on the back burner right now. I’ll be honest, the kind of vision we all had for that, it was too big to work for Indian cinema. The kind of VFX quality we were looking at, nobody has even strived for it here. Until the technology becomes affordable or cinema halls increase, we’ll have to wait.”

Citing James Cameron as an example, he said that even the US filmmaker waited for the market to grow. “Even he waited for the market to grow, for the tech to come to the level where he could actually present it. I’m, of course, not him, but if we have to achieve excellence, there can’t be any mediocrity. I can’t make it for the heck of it. Even if it takes five years of my prime time, the film has to be brilliant.”

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