Aditya Dhar who came into his own with the war film Uri in January 2019, has not made another film since then although Uri was released four years.
Right after the release of Uri , Dhar announced Ashwathama with Vicky Kaushal in the lead and Ronnie Screwvala again as producer. But one now hears that Ronnie has backed out as the film’s budget does not match the film’s potential audience.
Reports that Dhar has decided to drop Vicky Kaushal from the project to sign a more saleable hero are apparently wrong. A source in the know says, “Dhar will only make Ashwathama with Kaushal in the lead.It is a commitment he has made.”
In an old interview Aditya Dhar,who is now inaccessible, had said , “We worked under extremely tight budgetary circumstances in Uri ,and that was good. Because it kept us constantly on our toes, forever anxious. I think anxiety is a big impetus to productivity and creativity.I fear unlimited budgets would make me lazy as a filmmaker.I’d rather work within controlled budgets.My aim as a filmmaker is to make a film look large, far more spectacular than the budget would suggest. I’d like to spend 30 crores. But it should look like a 150-crore film.”
About Ashwathama Aditya had said, “It will be a completely different world from the one in Uri. But still in the real space, Yes, it is again based on a true-life event. And that’s all I can tell you. And of course I can also tell you that my next film too will be produced by Ronnie Screwvala’s RSVP production house. The way Ronnie, and for that matter Vicky Kaushal, stood by Uri and believed in it, I’d be foolish to change my priorities.”
So what happened to this director who made a 25-crore film look like a 100-crore film? What happened to his resolve to make his 30-crore film look like a 150-crore film?
