Just a few months before the release of her film, Chhapaak, actress Deepika Padukone announced that she would be collaborating with Madhu Mantena to produce and grace the audience with a spectacular chapter from the Indian epic, Mahabharata. Deepika also confirmed that she would play the titular role of Draupadi in the movie. There were rumours doing rounds that the film is based on the Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s novel, Palace of Illusions, which narrated the epic from Draupadi’s point of view.
Now,according to a report by Bollywood Hungama the film has been put on hold. The publication quoted a source as saying— “They announced the film because everyone was excited about bringing something as fascinating and iconic as Mahabharata on the big screen, however, over the last 2 years, they have not been able to lock on a director. The team explored several big names, but couldn’t align to the vision of any. One of the many directors in the race to direct Draupadi was Vishal Bharadwaj, but things fell through. After all these years, the buzz is, the film is finally put on hold for the time being and will be revived at a later time frame”.
The actress has also shifted her focus from Mahabharata to projects like Shakun Batra’s next and The Intern, Pathan, Fighter and Prabhas’ next film.