Ramayanam: Hrithik Dropped, No Plans with Prabhas

It was around four months ago, Mega Producer Allu Aravind along with two other producers Madhu Manthena and Namit Malhotra held a press conference and divulged that they would produce an epic trilogy Ramayana with an estimated budget Rs.1500 crores. 

The film was supposed to be made in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil in 3D format. Dangal director Nitesh Tiwari and Ravi Udyawar were supposed to direct this larger than life film. 

The producers trio told to the scribes that they would finalise the star cast at the earliest and would ensure the film released in 2021. But then, nothing of that sort happened. Even after four months of the press meet, no update of the project has been out. What happened with the project? Is it shelved?

Post the official announcement of Ramayan, various rumours on the film's star cast made rounds. Most of the top media houses reported that Bollywood superstar Hrithik Roshan would be roped in for protagonist lord Rama's role. Some more media houses cooked up the story that Young Rebel Star Prabhas might be reprising demon Ravan's role. 

It is still uncertain whether team Ramayan contemplated about aforesaid star cast for Ramayan. Nevertheless, an inside report affirmed that the producers trio dropped the idea of inducting Hrithik in the film. 

It is said that Allu Aravind realized how some media and anti fans would try to compare young stars like Hrithik with legendary hero Megastar Chiranjeevi and try to degrade Chiranjeevi comparing historical film Sye Raa with an ordinary action flick War. As such, Allu Aravind is said to have decided not to let mega rivals to take the liberty of degrading Megastar. And then, because of the same reason, Prabhas is not being considered for any other key role in the film. 

However, Ramayan will have huge star cast of heroines, character artists and technicians from various industries. The film is likely to go on sets only in the second half of 2020 and may get released in 2022.