Mega budget, high octane, Hindu mythological story and grand sets--Indian cinema has a new trend in town. Pulling a leaf out of our rich ancient history, directors are now keen to explore the untold mythological stories of Indian civilisation.
Indian cinema's top guns like Mani Ratnam, Karan Johar, Prabhas, Akshay Kumar, Ranbir Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and many others are joining this trend. Let's have a look at some of the most-awaited upcoming films based on mythological stories.
Prithviraj
The film is a biopic of warrior king Prithviraj Chauhan and his clash with Mohammad Ghori of the Ghurid dynasty. Directed by Chandraprakash Dwivedi and produced by Yash Raj Films, the historical action drama is based on Prithviraj Raso, a Braj Bhasha epic poem about the life of the king.
Akshay Kumar is playing the title role while Miss World Manushi Chhillar will make her Bollywood debut as Sanyogita. The star cast also includes Sanjay Dutt, Sonu Sood, Ashutosh Rana, Sakshi Tanwar, Manav Vij and Lalit Tiwari. The film is all set to hit the screens on June 3.
Brahmastra
Planned as a trilogy, the Ayan Mukerji directorial will have real-life couple Alia and Ranbir Kapoor on screen for the first time. The story revolves around a young superhero Shiva who travels back to pre-Mahabharata time to learn the nuisance of the brahmastra weapon. The film is slated for September 9 release in multiple languages.
Adipurush
Bankrolled by T Series, the film's plot is said to be inspired by Ramayan. It is reported that Prabhas' role will be based on the shades of Ram while Saif Ali Khan will be the antagonist Raavan. Kirti Sanon will be Sita, Sunny Singh will be Ram's beloved brother Lakshman and Devdutta Nage will play Hanuman. There is a buzz that director Om Raut is already planning a sequel for this action drama. The film is currently in its production stage and is expected to hit the screens in early 2023.
Ram Sethu
Akshay Kumar is all set for his OTT debut with this thriller. The Abhishek Sharma directorial narrates the story of an atheist archaeologist turned believer who has to race against the time to prove the existence of Ram Sethu before the evil forces try to destroy it. The star cast also includes Jacqueline Fernandes, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Satyadev Kancharana and others.
Ponniyin Selvan
Mani Ratnam's most ambitious project and Kollywood's most awaited film, Ponniyin Selvan is a two-part historical fiction based on writer Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1955 novel of the same name. It has a huge star cast that includes Vikram, Jayam Ravi, Karthi, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Trisha, Jayaram, Sobhita Dhulipala, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Vikram Prabhu, Ashwin Kakumanu, R. Sarathkumar, R. Parthiban, Prabhu, Prakash Raj and Rahman.
AR Rahman is the music director. Set in the 9th century, the film revolves around the early life of Chola Prince Arulmozhi Varman who was later known as the great Chola emperor Raja Raja Chola.
Ramayana Trilogy
Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari is working on his ambitious project, a mythological drama based on Ramayana with a live-action trilogy shot in 3D. Though the star cast is yet to be revealed, last year, Bollywood stars Hrithik Roshan and Ranbir Kapoor attended a closed-door which lead to speculation that the star names are considered for Raavan and Ram respectively. There are rumours that the team is considering Deepika Padukone's name to play Sita.
Chanakya
Ajay Devgn's Rs. 400 crore mega project Chanakya with director Neeraj Pandey has been making headlines for quite some time but nothing official has been confirmed yet.
