By: Mohnish Singh
According to reports, producer Madhu Mantena is gearing up to raise the curtain on his ambitious project Ramayan soon. The producer has reportedly signed Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone to headline the film. Roshan has been roped in to play the character of Ram, while Padukone will be seen as Sita. The team is yet to finalise actors for other important characters in the movie.
If reports are to be believed, Mantena has set aside a humongous budget of 3000 million as the production cost of the epic drama. If the news is right, Ramayan is set to be one of the costliest films ever produced in Hindi cinema.
A source in the know informs an entertainment portal, “These are sensitive times. And the last thing the Ramayan needs is an underwhelming treatment or a revisionist screenplay. Mantena has deployed several researchers to project absolute accuracy and preserve complete sanctity in his film version of the venerated epic.”
In other news, Madhu Mantena has just bought Vikas Bahl, Anurag Kashyap, and Vikramaditya Motwane’s stakes in the reputed production house Phantom Films which had ceased operations in October 2018. For the uninitiated, the production house was embroiled in controversy during India's MeToo movement.
Phantom Films is now a joint venture between Madhu Mantena's new company Mad Man Ventures and Reliance Entertainment, with both parties holding 50% stakes.
Sharing more details on the deal, a source told an Indian daily, “One thought it was all over for Phantom Films as a brand but Madhu had ideas to keep it alive. He got in touch with Kashyap, Motwane, and Bahl and expressed an interest to buy their stakes. The three of them agreed, the modalities were worked out quickly, the deal was made amicably.”
Madhu Mantena has also confirmed the development.
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