It's confirmed! Deepika Padukone to next play Mahabharata's Draupadi

After stunning her fans as Queen Padmavati in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s ‘Padmaavat’, Deepika Padukone is now set to don another historical look, this time as Hindu epic Mahabharata’s Draupadi. The story will be such that it is told from her perspective, the woman who is said to have led to the grand war of Mahabharata. 

Deepika will collaborate with producer Madhu Mantena on the project

This will be her next film after Meghna Gulzar’s ‘Chhapaak’ and Kabir Khan’s ‘83’ -- the first in which she plays the character of an acid attack survivor and the second in which she plays Romi Bhatia, wife of Kapil Dev. Kapil led India to victory in 1983 cricket world cup final as captain of the Indian team. 

As for her film as Draupadi, the actress in an interview said, “We all know the Mahabharat for its mythological tales and socio-cultural influence. We derive many of life’s lessons from the epic. But the narrative we are most familiar with is that of the epic’s leading men. This new perspective will be not only interesting but also significant.”

The film will be a multi-part franchise and the first part will release on Diwali 2021. 

This is the first time we get to hear any update on a film being made on Mahabharata as previously, Aamir Khan has been said to be working on a script on the epic tale. In an interview when Shah Rukh Khan was asked if he would be interested to play a role in the film, he said he would want to take Krishna’s role and added, “Krishna from Mahabharata has already been taken by Aamir so I will not be able to do that.”