Rukmini Maitra to play Draupadi from Mahabharata in Dev’s new venture

Dev’s fans are still in awe with the trailer of Byomkesh O Durga Rahasya. Now, the superstar’s production house brought another good news. The producer is bringing Mahabharat to the big screen. Ram Kamal Mukherjee, who directed Binodini: Ekti Notir Upakhyan, will also direct this film where Rukmini Maitra will play Draupadi.

The magnum opus will be jointly produced by Dev Entertainment Ventures and Pramod Films. The film is based on the popular writer Prativa Ray's Odia novel Yajnaseni. Ram Kamal will capture Mahabharat from Draupadi’s viewpoint. Dev was happy with Ram Kamal’s work in Binodini, though the film is not released yet. They then decided to do another film together.

Dev said, “I understood Ram Kamal’s visual representation skills by seeing his work in Binodini. When he told me to portray Draupadi’s story on the big screen, I was sure that he would do this aptly. I also saw Rukmini’s performance in Binodini and hence knew why Ram wanted to cast her as Draupadi. It will be a great experience for all.”

Rukmini said, “It makes me happy to work again with Ramkamal. He helped me a lot to make me comfortable in a character that was hard to portray. There are some advantages of working with a friend.” Rukmini further added, “Mahabharat is a subject close to the heart of every Indian. It will be a challenging role in my career after Binodini.”

The first look was released, and the poster showed a royal throne with a lion and a bow and arrow on it. The Yajna fire is burning in front of it. Ram Kamal is working on the script besides handling the post-production of Binodini.

The director said, “I am grateful to Prativaji for giving me the rights and elated to again work with Rukmini. I can not remember when was the last time a Bengali film showed Mahabharat's story. It is my pleasure that Dev and Pratik (Pramod Film’s owner) put their trust in me.”

The cast is yet to be finalised. It is still not known who might play the characters of Pandavas, especially that of Arjun.