Karan Johar’s loss is Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s gain! The filmmaker gets official rights to Amish Tripathi’s Immortals of Meluha

For the longest time Karan Johar has been holding the rights to Amish Tripathi’s bestselling novel, Immortals of Meluha. In fact, if grapevine is to be believed, Dharma’s film Shuddhi, was supposed to be an adaptation of this book. However, it has been rumoured that the film may never take off, since the maker doesn’t hold enough funds to get the project starting. And you know how they say, one’s loss is someone else’s gain? Well, Sanjay Leela Bhansali has shown keen interest in turning the fantasy novel into a full fledged feature film. You heard that right. As per reports on Mid-Day, it has been revealed that the official rights to adapt the book into a movie has been handed over to SLB.

Although neither Amish or Bhansali’s team has given any fodder to this report, a source close to the development has been quoted by the tabloid, “His contract with Karan expired recently, so Dharma had to surrender the rights to the book.” If Shuddhi did happen, as per Johar’s plans, the film would’ve had Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan as the leads. Of course, there have been various reports regarding the movie taking off but neither of the stars have commented anything on the same. Perhaps they’ve been tight lipped about it because of the fact that they don’t have the contract anymore?

ALSO READ – Revealed: The real reasons why Alia Bhatt and Varun Dhawan’s Shuddhi got shelved

It does sound like a positive news that SLB has rights to the mythological fantasy novel. When the book surfaced on the stands, it became an instant hit, marking a new fandom for mythological fantasy. Various books from the genre have found acclaim and fame because of this. It would be interesting to see how Bhansali makes this film. Considering how he has a knack for making period movies with a touch of his romanticised ideas, we’re certain that this would be a tale worth watching. That is hopefully, if he doesn’t get mired in controversies regarding Shiva enthusiasts asking him to shut the shop. In our country, anything is possible, after all.

Anyway, while you folks stay tuned to this space, we’ll go and get more updates on this news. So don’t go anywhere. Also, choose, do you think Karan Johar would’ve made a better movie out of this story or SLB? Write in the comments box below.