Actor Suniel Shetty recently revealed that he was supposed to be part of filmmaker Aditya Dhar’s ambitious project The Immortal Ashwatthama, which was later shelved. Speaking to Lehren Retro, Suniel shared that everything was finalised before the film was put on hold. “I was to play a role in Aditya’s Ashwatthama. So it got shelved, signing ho gaya, sab kuch ho gaya,” he said, recalling how close the project was to taking off.
Suniel also spoke about watching Dhurandhar, which starred Ranveer Singh and released last December. He admitted the film left him wishing he had been a part of it. “So maine jab Dhurandhar dekhi, I said, ‘I wish I could be a part of it’,” he said. Praising the performances, he added, “Everyone thought Akshaye Khanna was excellent, but I felt Aditya Dhar and Ranveer Singh were even better.”
Explaining why Ranveer stood out for him, Suniel said, “The audience can see that Akshaye’s character is played in a larger-than-life manner, he has the background score and everything working in his favour. Ranveer, on the other hand, has none of that, yet he still shines. How? He built the character himself through his physical structure, his look, and especially through his eyes.” He also applauded Dhar’s understanding of today’s audience, saying, “Today people question how a film can be three hours and forty minutes long, but Aditya Dhar understood the audience’s pulse.”
Talking about the shelving of The Immortal Ashwatthama, which was announced in 2020 with Vicky Kaushal in the lead, Dhar had earlier explained the reason in 2024 during the trailer launch of Article 370. “We have put that on the back burner right now. I’ll be honest, the kind of vision we all had for that, it was too big to work for Indian cinema. The kind of VFX quality we were looking at, nobody has even strived for it here,” he had said.
Meanwhile, Aditya Dhar is now gearing up for the release of Dhurandhar 2, scheduled to hit theatres on March 19.
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