Kurukshetra: The Mahabharata-themed project, which is also Darshan’s 50th film, was expected to release last year.The fans of Kannada star Darshan will have to wait a bit longer to see his upcoming mythological drama Kurukshetra on the big screen. Earlier, the filmmakers were reportedly planning for its release during Ugadi. However, now they have decided to reschedule the release after the poll date were announced by the Election Commission recently.
According to a newspaper report, producer Muniratna Naidu decided to hold back on its release until elections get over. The recent development apparently stems from the fact that Nikhil Gowda, the son of Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, has thrown his hat in the ring for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The actor-turned-politician has also played the role of Abhimanyu in the film based on the epic Mahabharata. And the filmmakers are not willing to risk action from the Election Commission.
The calls made by indianexpress.com to Muniratna Naidu and director Naganna to get the official response on the story went unanswered. And the film’s publicist refused to share additional information. “I can’t say anything more. Everything (including audio release) will happen only after elections,” he said.
The Mahabharata-themed project, which is also Darshan’s 50th film, was expected to release last year. However, it did not happen owing to production delays. The epic drama will be released both in 2D and 3D formats.
Munirathna earlier told indianexpress.com that Kurukshetra will be at par with Babruvahana (1977) and Mayura (1975). These epic films, starring legendary actor Dr Rajkumar, are touted to be the pride of Kannada film industry till date.
Kurukshetra will revolve around Duryodhana and writer JK Bharavi has penned its script drawing inspiration from the rich Kannada literature, including Gadayuddha, written by one of the greatest Kannada poets, Ranna.
The film has a huge star cast, including Ravichandran, Arjun Sarja, Ambareesh, Ravi Shankar, Saikumar, Danish Akhtar Saifi, Sneha, Hariprriya among others. Composer V Harikrishna has scored the music for this magnum opus.
