Aditya Dhar says The Immortal Ashwatthama’s budget was ‘too big’ to work for Indian cinema: ‘VFX we were looking for…’

Big films require big budgets, and sometimes they ask for a small sacrifice. For filmmaker Aditya Dhar, who was raring to mount his ambitious mythological superhero actioner The Immortal Ashwatthama, that sacrifice was letting go of the project as the team understood it was impossible to make it with the vision they had in mind.

Dhar, after delivering the blockbuster Uri: The Surgical Strike, announced The Immortal Ashwatthama. But the project kept getting delayed and was eventually shelved due to budgeting constraints.

During the trailer launch of his latest production Article 370, director Aditya Dhar was asked to share an update on his ambitious film The Immortal Ashwatthama.

Dhar 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.”

The filmmaker shared that until technology doesn’t become affordable or cinema halls increase in the country so that more people can watch films, he would have to wait and watch.

“For example, 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.

Set against the backdrop of Article 370, the film is directed by Aditya Suhas Jambhale and is headlined by Yami Gautam and Priyamani. It is produced by Jyoti Deshpande, Aditya Dhar and his brother Lokesh Dhar. The movie will release on February 23.