'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj trilogy will be in multiple languages'

Ritiesh Deshmukh

Actor Riteish Deshmukh and Sairat director Nagraj Manjule's ambitious multilingual trilogy on the life of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj should start shooting by the end of the year, and the first of the three films will release in 2021.

Riteish added the project, which he first spoke of about a week back, would be in multiple languages. He is backing the project through his banner Mumbai Film Company and will also play the starring role of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Music composers Ajay-Atul, who have been a constant in all of Manjule's films, will also score the music for the trilogy.

"As of now, only three people who are associated with the project -- Nagraj Manjule, (composer duo) Ajay-Atul and myself. We felt all of us are in sync to make this film. We all want to do something exciting and something different, so fingers are crossed," said Ritiesh, while interacting with the media at a promotion event for his upcoming film, Baaghi 3. Asked when shooting of the film would start, the actor said: "We hope to go on floors before the year ends."

"Ideally, we would like to make it in Hindi and Marathi but at the same time we are definitely open to explore other languages. Once we make the film and if people think that we can take this film to other states, we will definitely try to do that. Because Shivaji Maharaj's father (Shahaji Bhosle) used to live in Karnataka of the current times. And a lot of forts over there and a lot of the Telugu area was also under him," said Riteish.

Reportedly, first part named "Shivaji", will depict the early years of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's life, while the second part "Raja Shivaji" will depict the period when he founded the Maratha Empire. The third part "Chhatrapati Shivaji" will depict his overall dominance on India.

Asked if he is keen to collaborate with a studio to release and distribute his film, he said: "We will figure that out. When you are releasing a film in Maharashtra, you can still figure out where you want to release your film. But if we want to go pan-India, we need to do that (collaborate with a studio). I feel that if you have certain strength then you have to concentrate on that. If you want to work on other things, get the best person from that field, so we are looking forward to collaborating with someone because that's the best way forward."

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