Few months before the release of Chhapaak, Deepika Padukone announced that she will be playing Draupadi in Madhu Mantena‘s upcoming production.
The latest reports in the industry suggest that this much-spoken epic has been put on hold.
A source tells Bollywood Hungama “They announced the film because everyone was excited about bringing something as fascinating and iconic as Mahabharata on the big screen, however, over the last 2 years, they have not been able to lock on a director. The team explored several big names, but couldn’t align to the vision of any. One of the many directors in the race to direct Draupadi was Vishal Bharadwaj, but things fell through. After all these years, the buzz is, the film is finally put on hold for the time being and will be revived at a later time frame.”
Deepika has also switched her focus from Mahabharata to smaller films like Shakun Batra’s next and The Intern, as also the big superstar action spectacles films like Pathan, Fighter and Prabhas’ next film with Nag Ashwin.
“They are still keen to make it and will certainly revive it at the right time, on getting the right director. It’s an ambitious film, and requires a certain kind of command over the craft as bringing an epic to the screen is a big responsibility,” the source added.
Deepika had described Draupadi as a role of a lifetime, and given her passion and commitment for this project, however, as of now Draupadi is stagnant with no progress.
We hope for the project to revive soon.