Mohanlal’s Mahabharata gets PM Narendra Modi’s backing

The magnum opus The Mahabharata has been in the news ever since it was announced. The movie, touted to be made on a whopping budget of Rs 1000 crores is an adaptation of MT Vasudevan Nair’s novel Randamoozham. Recently, a pro Hindu group had threatened that they won’t allow the movie’s release unless the title is changed from Mahabaratha.

But, now the film has received the backing of none other than the Prime Minister of the country. PM Narendra Modi has written a letter to producer BR Shetty announcing his total support for the ambitious project.

In the letter, Modi has said he is awaiting the release of the film, which will be a matter of pride for the entire nation. To thank the Prime Minister for his support, The Mahabharata team has sought an appointment to meet him and it has been granted. The film’s crew will be meeting the Prime Minister on July 7.

Earlier, following the threat from Hindu Aikya Vedi, producer B R Shetty had written to PM Narendra Modi expressing his concerns. In his letter, Shetty had said that the movie would be included in the government’s Make in India project. Modi has now assured his total support to the project.

MT Vasudevan Nair’s novel Randamoozham is based on the Hindu epic Mahabharatha. It is told from the perspective of Bheeman. According to KP Sasikala, the head of Hindu Aikya Vedi, the novel is a distortion of the writings in the real epic and hence it’s movie adaptation should not be titled as The Mahabharata. She warned that if the makers did not change its name, then the Kerala Hindu Aikya Vedi would not allow its screening.

BR Shetty and director VA Shrikumar Menon recently had a press meet, where they clarified that only the Malayalam version will have the title Randamoozham, in all other languages it will be titled as Mahabharata itself. They feel that only a title like Mahabharata will make sense to the global audience and hence they are sticking to the same title.