Not Shivarajkumar but Shahid Kapoor to headline Ashwathamma

We had earlier reported that Sachin Ravi, the director of Avane Srimannarayana, would be making his Bollywood debut with Shahid Kapoor in the lead. He had temporarily moved to Mumbai, preparing for the big-budget project backed by Vashu Bhagnani and Jackky Bhagnani’s Pooja Entertainer banner. The project has been officially announced, with the makers and actor Shahid Kapoor sharing the news on social media platforms.

While the director hinted at an action-packed mythology-based project inspired by the epic Mahabharata, it’s now confirmed that Shahid Kapoor will play the immortal Ashwatthama. It is set to be a multilingual film which will be made in five languages. “Myth and reality will blur as past and present collide when an ancient legend meets this modern marvel! This is the story of  Ashwatthama - The Saga Continues, the immortal warrior, a Magnum Opus you cannot miss,” read the announcement.

Given Sachin Ravi’s expertise in VFX, technology is expected to play a significant role in the film too. Interestingly, Sachin had pitched the project to Shivarajkumar a few years ago and had announced that he would direct him in a film based on the character of Ashwatthama. He had mentioned that the story was written by him during the filming of Avane Srimannarayana and would deal with relationships throughout Ashwatthama’s life and how he would take on evil. However, there were no further announcements after that.

It is also to be noted that director Anup Bhandari had also recently announced his film with the same title. Exploring one of the popular characters from the Mahabharata, he expressed his desire to have Sudeep headline the mega-project, but there have been no updates on this project.
Filmmaker Aditya Dhar too had plans to collaborate with Vicky Kaushal for a similar project, which was announced in 2020 but later shelved. It has now been confirmed that Shahid Kapoor will portray the character Ashwatthama.