After Rs 1000 crore Mahabharata, another epic Ramayana will be adapted with Rs 500 crore budget for big screens

Weeks after it was reported that UAE-based billionaire BR Shetty would invest Rs 1,000 crore in country's biggest ever epic called 'The Mahabharata', three filmmakers have now come together to make another epic - Ramayana - with a budget of Rs 500 crore.
 
The Mumbai Mirror on Wednesday reported that three producers, Allu Aravind, Namit Malhotra and Madhu Mantena have joined hands to bring the Ramayana to the big screen.
 
"The live-action feature will be a Hindi, Telugu and Tamil trilingual, being hyped as India's most ambitious project yet with an estimated budget of Rs 500 crore. It will be shot in 3D and released as a three-part series," the report said.
 
The Newspaper also quoted one of the producers, Allu Aravind, who confirmed the news and said: "It's a huge responsibility but the Ramayana needs to be told on the big screen in the most magnificent way possible. We are committed to delivering a spectacular extravaganza."

Mahabharata and Ramayana are ancient Indian epics that have not been presented on the big screen for a very long time. It was in 1987-1988 when  Ramayan was presented in a TV series. The epic television series was written and directed by Ramanand Sagar.

Mahabharat was presented in 94-episode Hindi series that originally ran from 2 October 1988 to 24 June 1990 on state-run DD National. It was produced by BR Chopra and directed by his son Ravi Chopra.

After almost two decades, a UAE-based Indian will once again present the country's most ancient epic - The Mahabharata - on big screens. The ambitious project will be directed by ad filmmaker VA Shrikumar Menon.

The shoot will begin in September next year and the film is expected to release in early months of 2020. The sequel of the movie will come after 90 days of the release of its primary part.

The script will be based on an adaptation of M T Vasudevan Nair novel Randamoozham (The Second Turn), which narrates 'The Mahabharata' through the eyes of Bhima, the second of the Pandavas.

The same writer, Nair will also write the screenplay of the movie. Nair holds a record of maximum National Awards for screenwriting in the history of Indian cinema.

Speaking on the language of the epic, BR Shetty said: "The film will be shot primarily in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu and will be dubbed into major Indian languages and leading foreign languages."

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