Filmmaker N Lingusamy, who last made the Tamil-Telugu bilingual The Warriorr (2022), shared an update regarding his upcoming project.
In his exclusive interview with the Tamil weekly magazine Ananda Vikatan, the director said that he is a part of a mega-budget two-film project based on the Hindu epic Mahabharata. He said in the interview, "I have signed a two-film project that will focus on the characters of Arjuna and Abhimanyu. With Rs 700 crore invested in the project, I will be given all the necessary state-of-the-art technology. Whenever we think of Mahabharata, we will be reminded about PR Chopra's work. Now I am a part of such a project. The official announcement of the project will be made soon."
If this development becomes official, it would be the first Mahabharata film made in Tamil in over 40 years after Karnan (1964). In 1977, Sivakumar and Jayalalithaa played the lead roles in Sri Krishna Leela, by legendary director AP Nagarajan. However, that film laid its primary focus on the miracles of Lord Krishna and not the Mahabharata war.
In an abstract adaptation, director Mani Ratnam helmed Thalapathi in 1991, starring Rajinikanth and Mammootty. The director took the character traits and the arc of Karnan from the epic and attributed it to Surya (Rajinikanth) in a contemporary setup.