K V Vijayendra Prasad roped in for adaptation of Bankim Chandra's Anandamath

April 8 marks the 128th death anniversary of legendary Indian novelist  Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. 

On the occasion, author-turned-filmmaker Ram Kamal Mukherjee and former Head of Zee Studios Sujoyy Kuttiy have roped in RRR and Baahubali writer KV Vijayendra Prasad for their magnum opus 1770 - Ek Sangram.

Inspired by Chatterjee's classic Bengali novel Anandamath, the film also marks 150th year of Vande Matram that triggered the Swaraj movement in India against the British Empire. Chatterjee had composed the song for his novel Anandamath which was published in Bangadarshan Magazine in 1872.

1770, a multi-crore magnum opus, will be produced by Shhailendra Kkumar from SS1 Entertainment, Suraj Sharma from P  K Entertainments and will be made in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. 1770 will be shot in Hyderabad, West Bengal and London. 

Currently the makers are shuttling between Mumbai and Hyderabad to lock the first draft of the screenplay. By the end of May, they will be releasing the teaser poster. 

"We are expecting to shoot from October 2022, while we will need 120 days of pre-production. This is a mammoth project, and requires a massive budget to mount. It will take almost a year and half to make this film," says Ram Kamal.

"When Sujoyy approached me for Anandamath, I was a bit taken aback," K V Vijayendra Prasad shares. 

He adds, "I had read the novel many years ago, and frankly speaking I didn't feel that today's generation would be able to connect with the subject. But when I met Ram Kamal and he shared his vision on Anandamath, he had a completely different take on the novel. It was commercial and connected with human emotions. After a couple of sessions, now I am excited to work on the subject with a completely fresh perspective. It will be a huge challenge for me, to recreate the magic of Anandamath."

Sujoyy Kuttiy says, "I am glad that we are revisiting classics. I am excited to recreate the magic of Vande Mataram on screen. I have worked with Vijayendra sir in Manikarnika and also worked closely with him on a couple of other projects too. When Ram Kamal approached me with 1770 Ek Sangram, I immediately thought of Vijayendra sir, because of its scale and structure. I am glad that we have young producers like Shhailendra Kkumar and Suraj Sharma who believe that screenplay is the real hero of the film. Once we are ready with the first draft of the screenplay we will start locking our main leads."