Film critic-turned-director-turned-actor Kunal Kohli who has delivered hits like Hum Tum and Fanaa is currently working on his next project. The film critic who made a name for himself hosting the show Chalo Cinema on Zee TV turned director under Yash Raj Films banner and directed Mujhse Dosti Karoge starring Rani Mukerji, Hrithik Roshan and Kareena Kapoor in lead roles. Now, he is all set to adapt the mythological epic Ramayana to the big screen.

PeepingMoon spoke to Kunal about his ambitious project and he said, “I’m producing and directing a movie on The Ramayana. The film will predominantly have a new star cast.” The filmmaker is planning to make an official statement about his film within a few weeks once his lead actors are in place. Apparently, the director has been working on this project for quite some time now and looking forward to directing it.

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We asked Kunal about whether the film would be an adaptation or will stay true to the original epic, Kunal replied, “I’m making it like the original epic is. I’m very excited about it.” The film is slated to go on floor this year and the release date for the film is planned for 2019.

Ramayana is one of the most well-known and sacred epics of Hindus and over the years have given rise to many adaptations as well as versions. It was made into a very popular television series in 1987-88 by Ramanand Sagar and starred Arun Govil, Deepika Chikhalia and Dara Singh in the lead roles.

The most recent adaptation was aired in 2008 starring Gurmeet Choudhary and Debina Bonnerjee. It was produced by Sagar Arts.

Many Indian authors have also written their versions on the epic like Devdutt Pattnaik. There are multiple modern adaptations of the epic like Ram Chandra Series by Amish Tripathi, Ramayana Series by Ashok Banker.

It will be interesting who Kunal ropes in for this mega project.