Amit Rai was close to making a historical drama, a biopic on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in 2024. Shahid Kapoor was supposed to play the Maratha warrior in Amit’s film.
Unfortunately, the project has been shelved now. In a media interview, the filmmaker confirmed this development. Although he didn’t reveal why the biopic went off the table, Amit admitted that the biopic went from being one of his most ambitious projects to a shredder.
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj biopic ft. Shahid Kapoor is shelved!
In an interview with Mid-Day, Amit said, “The system is so cruel. Even if you have proved your mettle with a R180 crore film [OMG 2], it’s not enough. How is a director supposed to work here, under these systems of casting, production, star, and management? You live with a story for five years, and within minutes, somebody writes a five-pager, pointing out what is wrong and what is right in the film.”
This experience came as a learning lesson to Amit, who decided to produce his next project himself. In fact, the filmmaker got support from Hungarian cinematographer Máté Herba and popular action and motion-capture specialist Isaac Hamon came on board for his project.
In the same conversation, Amit revealed that his OMG 2 actor Pankaj Tripathi is a part of his next. In fact, Akshay Kumar, too, had expressed interest in doing it. He praised the two actors for being ‘generous‘. “An actor will only do what’s working at the box office. Very few actors were honest to me. Sometimes, they weren’t interested in being part of a film that’s speaking the truth about society, and instead wanted to do a love story,” he added.
Amit Rai’s last directorial
On the work front, Amit last helmed OMG 2, which worked well at the box office despite clash with Gadar 2. It featured Kumar and Tripathi in key roles.