New Delhi: Director-producer Aditya Dhar responded to questions regarding his big film ‘The Immortal Ashwatthama,’ which originally featured actor Vicky Kaushal in the lead role. The filmmaker is currently waiting for the release of his next film, ‘Article 370’, which stars his wife, actor Yami Gautam Dhar.
While the trailer for his in-house film ‘Article 370’, which narrates the events leading up to the removal of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which gave Kashmir special status, was being unveiled, Aditya talked with the media on the sidelines.
“I’ll be very honest, that film (‘The Immortal Ashwatthama’) has been put on hold. The kind of vision that we all had for that film, it was too big for the mathematics to work in the Indian cinema. The kind of VFX we were aiming for, nobody has tried for it yet in India. Ya toh humaari VFX technology sasti ho jaaye ya humaare number of screens baddh jaayein (either our filmmaking technology becomes cheaper or the number of screens in India are increased) so that more people can watch the film tab tak mujhe thoda sa dekhna padega,” Aditya said.
The director used James Cameron as an example, explaining how he created ‘Avatar’ in a particular manner.
“James Cameron conceptualised ‘Avatar’ 27 years before it was released. He waited for the market to go up or for the technology to come up to a certain level. I’m no James Cameron but the point is that the situation has to be in our favour to a certain degree and has to work out a certain way so that we can mount a film like The Immortal Ashwatthama,” he added.
Vicky Kaushal starred in Aditya’s feature film debut, ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’, which he directed. India’s surgical strike in retaliation for Pakistan’s 2016 Uri incident was portrayed in the movie. The release of ‘Article 370’ is scheduled for February 23.