'Uri' director Aditya Dhar opens up about his next 'Ashwatthama'

Mumbai, April 30 (IANS) National Award-winning film director Aditya Dhar is gearing up for his next, "The Immortal Ashwatthama". He says that the film should be a big canvas project, adding that he has always been fascinated by the titular mythological character.## "One of the reasons why I chose to weave a story around a mythological character like Ashwatthama from 'Mahabharat' was that, though all the characters in that epic are celestial, personally I felt that Ashwatthama is a character with all the flaws that even we have -- ego issues, jealousy, anger. These flaws made him human. I think we can connect with him and I find him relevant even in the present time. He is an immortal character, which means he is supposed to be alive even now. So you see, Ashwatthama is a character of the present time," Aditya told IANS.## The film will be produced by Ronnie Screwvala and Vicky Kaushal is to play the protagonist.## "Scripting my concept into a film is a little complicated because I also want the story to be accessible to a wide audience and therefore I needed time. So, basically I am utilizing this period of lockdown to work on that -- work on pre-production," added the director whose last release "Uri: The Surgical Strike" was a blockbuster.## The entertainment industry, like any other, is expected to face a tough time economically due to the current global pandemic, and Aditya feels everyone will have to redesign the business side of storytelling.## "Firstly every story has its correct budget and 'Ashwatthama' is a big canvas film. Now, one has to understand the mathematics of our business. In India, we cannot make a film of Rs 500 crore and expect fast recovery. We made 'Uri' for Rs 28 CR and it looked like a film with a budget of around Rs 60 crore. So basically we are a team of people who can offer you a grand-looking film within a small budget," he said.## "I am a fellow from a middle-class family, and I know the art of 'paisa bachao', I am quite 'jugadu' that way. Having said that post-COVID-19, we really have to think about a new design of budget -- how to change the percentage of profit etc. Hopefully, we will sort that out, because Ronnie is best in business," Aditya signed off.## Stay tuned...