Mohanlal, Bheem, Mahabharata
Mohanlal will be seen as Bheem in Mahabharata, movie based of MT Vasudevan Nair's Randamoozham.Facebook

Ever since superstar Mohanlal announced his next project Mahabharata, no stone is being left unturned for being the most expensive Indian movie to be made on a whopping budget of Rs 1,000 crore. In the VR Shrikumar Menon directorial, based on MT Vasudevan Nair's Randamoozham, the versatile actor has been roped in to play the lead role as mythological character Bheem, through whom the epic is narrated in the novel.

Also check: Mahabharata is 1,000% confirmed, says producer BR Shetty

Now, the Mohanlal-starrer has hit a roadblock as Kerala Hindu Aikya Vedi president KP Sasikala has threatened the makers that the pro-Hindu group will not allow the screening of the film unless its title is changed. "We Hindus have a condition, the title of Mohanlal's movie should be renamed. Only a film close to the real story of epic Mahabharata written by Vyasa can carry that name. If the movie is based on MT Vasudevan Nair's Randamoozham, then let them consider that as its name. Only Veda Vyasa has the right to use Mahabharata," Sasikala pointed out during a recent Aikyavedi meeting in Kunnamkulam.

To validate her point, she even claimed that the hit Hollywood movie The Da Vinci Code was not named Bible, instead was given the same title like Dan Brown's novel. "If the name is Mahabharata, we will not allow the film to be released," she added. Will the makers of Mahabharata change the name of the movie considering this to be a serious threat? 

Anyway, Mahabharata or Randamoozham: What's your choice of title for Mohanlal's Rs 1,000 crore movie? Vote here

Meanwhile, we asked a few people, who have read the masterpiece of MT, to comment on the title used for the movie. Here are the responses:

"Randamoozham is the master craft of MT. It is his take on the epic Mahabharata. In the end of the book, he has even mentioned the kind of research he has done for it. But according to me, the movie's name and its content do not match, because Mahabharata is an epic and people know the story with Arjun and Krishna as the main characters. But Randamoozham is all about Bheem, second Pandava. So this is not Mahabharata, instead it's the views of Bheem or what he felt on certain situations," says Pavithra Raju, mother-of-one told International Business Times.

"Personally, I think Randamoozham should be its name. But MT has penned the script of Mohanlal's movie and  heard that it is the most expensive script ever in Indian cinema. He has also written the novel Randamoozham. So, as an author and script writer, I feel he has the freedom to decide the names. If he feels Mahabharata is the right title, then who can say no?," Ranjan Antony, an engineer by profession, comments.

Meanwhile, ever since the announcement of Mahabharata, the movie has become the hot topic of discussion online and offline, with many guessing the names of other actors, who will fit for the roles Lord Krishna, Kunthi, Arjun, Karna, Yudhisthira, Dhritarashtr, Dronacharya, Bhishma Pitamah, among many others. In a poll conducted by IBTimes on who looks apt for the role of Lord Krishna, majority of the netizens had suggested the name of Telugu star Mahesh Babu over Bollywood hearthrob Hrithik Roshan.