Businessman BR Shetty, who was to produce the Mohanlal starrer Randamoozham, confirmed that the project has been shelved. The conflict between director VA Shreekumar Menon and writer MT Vasudevan Nair led to the scrapping of the project, said the producer.
Speaking at a press conference in Dubai on Tuesday, Shetty said that the project was a ‘closed chapter,’ reports Mathrubhoomi. However, he had plans to make a film on Mahabharata. “I am still looking for a good scriptwriter. I will still make it (film on Mahabharata). My commitment is still there. Just as a true Indian, I am making the film to spread our history worldwide in all the languages (sic),” the director was quoted by IE.
The movie, originally planned to be made on a mammoth Rs 1000 crores, was announced at a press conference in Abu Dhabi two years back. The film was based on MT Vasudevan Nair’s award-winning novel Randamoozham. While the Malayalam version was given the same title as the novel, the film was planned as Mahabharata in other languages.
The film was planned as a two-part series with the shooting set to begin on September 2018. The first edition had been planned for a 2020 release.
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Due to the delay in starting the work for the movie, MT Vasudevan Nair pulled out of the project and demanded his script back. He had also filed a petition in the court in this regard.
Menon, in his defence, cited the delay in starting the work to the several international contracts and financial planning needed before the movie went on floors. Meanwhile, he directed his debut feature film Odiyan that released last year and had met with negative reviews.
Though Shreekumar Menon requested for an arbitrator to settle the issue with the writer, the Kozhikode Judicial Magistrate rejected his plea last month.
Image Courtesy: BusinessWorld.in