Dubai: Middle East-based tycoon B R Shetty, who is behind the planned film based on the Indian epic 'Mahabharata', said he will go ahead with the project, even though scriptwriter M T Vasudevan Nair has approached the court to take the script back. The Dubai-based Indian businessman also stated he is not particular about using the script written by MT, as the renowned Malayalam author is known.
The businessman told Manorama News in Dubai that he expects MT to make some compromises after the legal wrangle. The new development has come at a time when the case was to be heard before the court next month.
The film 'Randamoozham is touted to be the most expensive movie ever to be made in India. The film based on MT's magnum opus, also called 'Randamoozham', was caught on a sticky wicket after the Malayalam master story-teller moved the court with a plea to return his screenplay, penned in both Malayalam and English, as the contract with the film director V A Shrikumar Menon had expired.
Popular ad filmmaker Menon had approached Shetty to produce the Rs 1,000-crore film that was to be shot in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu, and dubbed into major foreign and Indian languages.
Shetty, who is not ready to give room for further controversies, made it clear that his strong desire to showcase the richness of 'Mahabharata' before the world had prompted him to bankroll the mega project. “I hope MT would take a favourable stand,” said Shetty, who has not yet discussed the matter personally with the celebrated writer.
The epic-based film will be produced in two parts of 3-hr duration each, and will hit the silver screen by 2020, Shetty added.
Bavaguthu Raghuram Shetty, hailing from Mangalore in Karanataka, is the founder and chairman of several hi-profile business ventures, including Unimoni and UAE Exchange.
'Randamoozham' is a version of the Sanskrit epic from the perspective of Bheema, who would be portrayed by acclaimed actor Mohanlal in the movie.
