Like ‘Game of Thrones’ and ‘Avatar’: Shankar on his dream project ‘Velpari’

Veteran director S Shankar has spoken about his dream film, the adaptation of the novel ‘Veera Yuga Nayagan Velpari’. At a recent public event, the filmmaker opened up on his ambitious plan for the project.

“My previous dream project was Enthiran (2010). ‘Velpari’ is now my most ideal movie. The film, like Avatar and Game of Thrones, has the potential to become Indian cinema’s pride,” he said during the celebration of the sale of one lakh copies of CPI (M) MP and writer Su Venkatesan’s novel ‘Veera Yuga Nayagan Velpari’. Superstar Rajinikanth was also present at the event.

In Jaunary 2025, Shankar had expressed his interest to start the movie right after Indian 3. “I want to take my time to explore all the unexplored sides of myself with this project. The script work is done and it will be a three-part film. It is a mammoth project that will require a big budget,” Shankar had said.

In September 2024, Shankar had alleged unauthorised use of content from the Tamil novel and warned filmmakers about the risk of falling in legal trouble. The director said that he was upset to see some important scenes from the novel in a recent movie trailer.

ALSO READ:Director Shankar upset over “unauthorised use” of scenes from Tamil novel ‘Veera Yuga Nayagan Velpari’

Shankar’s previous two films have been box office flops. While Indian 2, the much-awaited sequel to the 1996 blockbuster with Kamal Haasan, failed to recreate the magic of the original, Game Changer, his debut Telugu project starring Ram Charan, bit the dust. There has been no official update on the release of Indian 3.