Aditya Dhar: We’re looking at location options in Eastern Europe

Aditya Dhar has little time to enjoy his 38th birthday amid the preproduction work but he wouldnrsquot have it any other way The filmmaker has invested the past two years in his magnum opus The Immortal Ashwatthama which reunites him with his Uri The Surgical Strikes actor Vicky Kaushal While the lockdown could do little to hinder their progress as the team worked remotely Dhar is now considering changing the locations as the DDay comes closer and the lockdown in the UK continuesThe filmrsquos first lookldquoWe were supposed to start filming between April and July we are sticking to the timelines Now we are looking at other location options in Eastern Europe as a contingency plan Most of our previous options are facing logistical issues due to COVID19 We will align our schedules depending on the countries that have opened up By June we are hoping to get vaccinated as well So that will keep us safe at largerdquo he saysWalking us through the virtual work that continues on the film he adds We have been doing most of our work remotely Because most of our crew members are from all over the world video calling has been a work ground In many ways lockdown has taught us that work can happen from anywhere Im so glad I donrsquot have to drive down to South Bombay and waste two hours in commute to do 10 minutes of discussion and an hour of frill chatting and gossiping Our storyboarding mood boarding has been happening seamlessly with immense focus and dedication Some physical meetings are important for massive preproduction which we will do whilst maintaining social distancing rulesrdquoAditya Dhar directorHis leading man has begun prep to transform into the titular character If the prep for Uri was hard on Kaushal Dhar says the upcoming film will test his limits ldquoBecoming proficient in multiple forms of martial combat weapon training have already started The prep will only grow here on The team is testing regularly to make sure safety norms are not violated Vickyrsquos training started way earlier than we did for Uri He weighs 76 kgs and for Uri he went to 95 kgs In this film he has to go up to 115120 kgs He has taken up physical training strongly When Vicky puts his mind to something he outdoes himselfrdquoDhar has a twofold vision as he sets out to tell the ldquopart mythological part scifirdquo tale of Dronacharyarsquos son Ashwatthama who was given the boon of immortality ndash to give his own interpretation to the ancient Indian epic and to make a visual spectacle worthy of global attention ldquoAshwatthama was a proud warrior whose rage created problems along the way The story is hinged on the concepts of dharmadharm and redemption The journey is of a negative character turning positiverdquo he explains adding that he intends to make it on an economical budget ldquoTherersquos not a minute in my day when I am not invested in this film Great films are made by great teams Uri became what it did because we were obsessed about getting it right and we bring the same passion to this as well If we get it right we wouldrsquove made a global film on a slim budget that transgresses nationalities We want to prove that an Indian film is capable of becoming a global talking point I love this pressure We made a slick war film like Uri for 25 crores No one could believe our making cost My team is solution driven and we created newer fresher cheaper ways together People spend crazy amounts of money to make a movie like The Immortal Ashwatthama but we are determined to do it on one third of that budget If we make this happen it will change fresher aspects in filmmaking People told us war films donrsquot work Vicky Kaushal has not done commercial film as solo lead but hats off to Ronnie Screwvala who stuck to his guns Ronnie is giving us the same leeway and backing to create a fresher framework to make a scifi film in controlled budgets by employing inventive thinking on each department