Director Nagraj Manjule says film on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj pushed due to pandemic

Filmmaker Nagraj Manjule says his ambitious multilingual trilogy on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is facing delays due to the pandemic and has not been put on the back burner.
In 2019, Manjule and actor-producer Riteish Deshmukh had announced the pan-India film trilogy.
The movie was supposed to be backed Deshmukh’s production banner – Mumbai Film Company and was set to release in 2021.

एखाद्या स्वप्नाच्या उंबरठ्यावर उभं राहणं म्हणजे हेच असावं कदाचित…आज शिवरायांच्या जन्मदिनाच्या निमित्ताने हे सांगायला लय आनंद वाटतोय कीरितेश देशमुख, अजय-अतुल यांच्या सोबतीने घेऊन येतोय शिवत्रयीशिवाजीराजा शिवाजीछत्रपती शिवाजीशिवरायांच्या जन्मदिनाच्या खूप साऱ्या सदिच्छा 🙏🌹 pic.twitter.com/r4GaizGCeE
— Nagraj Popatrao Manjule (@Nagrajmanjule) February 19, 2020
“Our schedule got haywire because of the pandemic. We lost two years because of that so naturally we could not take it on floors. But it isn’t that the movie is shelved. It is a project I am extremely passionate about and once everything falls into place, you will know,” Majule told PTI.

The trade had billed the project as the filmmaker’s biggest production, after Marathi films like Fandry, Sairat and his recent Hindi debut, Jhund.
Nagraj Manjule said the film on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj will be challenging to pull off.
“It is a horical. But at the end of the day, we are making a film so the rules of moviemaking won’t change, only the subject will. Of course, it will come with its own challenges because of the nature of the film.
“Even when I was a kid, I would think how brilliant a film on Shivaji Maharaj would be. I had seen a couple of films on him and wanted to make one myself, so this is a dream project,” he added.
Manjule’s latest Jhund, featuring megastar Amitabh Bachchan as a Nagpur-based retired sports teacher who pioneered a slum soccer movement, is currently playing in cinemas.