‘Ashwatthama’ gets revived by Jio Studios: Loud Buzz – Exclusive – Times of India

It was all over for director Aditya Dhar’s dream of making ‘Ashwatthama’ on the budget that he had envisaged with Vicky Kaushal in the lead. Aditya’s collaborator on ‘Uri’, Ronnie Screwvala, had pulled the plug on the film primarily because he felt that it was not a commercially viable project. Those were the times of COVID-19 on a very frightening spree (2020-2021) and we at ETimes had broken that story.

So, since mid-last week, there have been reports that ‘Ashwatthama’ might have the suddenly-famous Samantha Prabhu as the female lead. We at ETimes got down to being nosey and probing around how did the film come back on track if at all. Hate to leave loose ends!

Well, we have found out that ‘Ashwatthama’ is now happening alright, but the news is that Aditya has approached Jio Studios for it. Our source informed us about this switch.

Aditya is obviously thrilled as Jio Studios have agreed in principle so far and not lowered the budget- at least not till now- and is fast setting up the stage to start the shoot in May 2023. Yes, you read it right, May 2023.

Still 10 months to go. It may be fair, because it’s a humongous film to put on floors and besides, by next year, the commercial scene in Bollywood is expected to be better. The scene might further improve in 2024 as it is sure that the movie cannot be released in 2023 if it rolls only in its fifth month.

On the other hand, we can tell you that the big news of Samantha is still not confirmed, but yes, the buzz on Jio Studios having come in as an oxygen pump for ‘Ashwatthama’ is definitely louder than that.

The interesting bit that is not yet known is whether Ronnie Screwvala is still a part of the film or not. While some say Ronnie and Jio Studios both will produce, some are saying that it will be Jio Studios alone. Watch this space for more.