Dr B R Shetty, UAE based billionaire businessman and philanthropist, plans to invest Rs 1,000 crore ($ 150 million) to produce biggest ever motion picture - 'Mahabharata'.

This magnum opus is being directed by noted ad man and advertising film maker V A Shrikumar Menon. Mahabharata will be produced in two parts and is scheduled to go on floor by September 2018 and will be released in early 2020.

The second part of the film will be released within 90 days of the first part. The film will be shot primarily in English, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil & Telugu and will be dubbed into major Indian languages and leading foreign languages.

The film will be a coming together of the creme de la creme of Indian and global cinema, in terms of its cast and crew. (The technical crew would include some of the great names in the world cinema including some academy winners. The cast will have the best of talents from Indian cinema as well as some big names from Hollywood.)

This film will have an identity across continents, with their representatives donning the myriad characters in Mahabharata! A global team led by an internationally renowned casting director will handpick the cast.

Serial entrepreneur and billionaire Dr. B.R. Shetty has been a keen supporter of Indian arts and culture for over many decades. With his decision to back Mahabharata, Dr. Shetty will join the league of visionary producers like Lord Richard Attenbourgh who backed the biopic ‘Gandhi’ which was based on the life of India's most famous freedom fighter, and India's father of the nation, which appealed to a global audience.`