Aditya Dhar Confirms Vicky Kaushal's The Immortal Ashwatthama Is Shelved, Says 'I Can't Make It...'

Filmmaker Aditya Dhar has finally revealed why his highly anticipated film, The Immortal Ashwatthama has been later shelved. Announced back in 2020, the film was supposed to star Vicky Kaushal in the lead. However, Dhar has now revealed that the mythological superhero actioner was “too big” for the Indian cinema and therefore, the team understood it was “impossible to make it” considering the budgeting constraints.

“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,” Dhar said during the trailer launch of his movie, Article 370 on Thursday.

Aditya Dhar further cited James Cameron’s Avatar and shared that he will wait for The Immortal Ashwatthama until technology becomes affordable. “James Cameron thought of Avatar 27 years ago, but he waited for the market to grow. The tech to come to that 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.”

“Once a film is made, then it remains for posterity. It can’t be something mediocre. It can’t have that intent that I just want to make money. It should strive for excellence. I truly believe that as makers we have a huge responsibility of representing our country in the right way,” he added.

The Immortal Ashwatthama was supposed to go on floors in 2020 but the film was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Its production work was then supposed to begin in 2022 but was delayed again due to budget-related issues.

Previously, Vicky Kaushal had also called the repeated delays regarding the movie ‘disheartening’. “There will be a better time to make that film. More than disheartening, it is that thing that any film should be made at the best time for that film. Every time the film is bigger than me or any individual attached to the film. So, we have to choose a time that justifies making that film. So, we are waiting for that time to come,” he told PTI.