Karna is among the most enigmatic characters of the Mahabharata, with every reader interpreting his moral stance and actions in their own way. It isn’t surprising then that filmmaker Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra found a compelling story in the tragic hero’s journey. Over the past few months, there has been much chatter about the director’s ambitious project, Karna—as much for its grand scale as for the fact that it will mark Suriya’s Hindi cinema debut. Now, mythological fiction novelist Anand Neelakantan, who is serving as a writer on the project along with Mehra, reveals that the period drama is ready to roll early next year.

Neelakantan’s previous books Ajaya: Roll Of The Dice and Ajaya: Rise Of Kali told us the story of the Kauravas from Duryodhana’s point of view, while Asura: Tale of the Vanquished examined the Ramayana from Ravana’s perspective. He says that Karna will be made in the same vein.

“We are talking about [the events] as they happened in the epic Mahabharata, from Karna’s point of view. In Telugu and Tamil cinema, classics have been made on this character, with Sivaji Ganesan and NTR playing the leads. But this will be the first time in Hindi cinema that a movie is being made on Karna. I cannot reveal much as the makers are yet to announce it officially. The big-budget movie will be made in five languages, including Hindi, Tamil and Telugu,” shares the author, whose latest novel is Mahi: The Elephant Who Flew Over The Blue Mountains.

Earlier, Shahid Kapoor was to play Karna, the Sun God and princess Kunti’s child, who became Duryodhana’s close friend and fought against the Pandavas in the Kurukshetra war. However, things did not work out and Tamil star Suriya came on board the mythological drama that will trace the King of Anga’s glory, betrayal, conflict and his lost love.

“The movie is expected to start from next year,” adds Neelakantan, who recently wrote the ZEE5 series, Taj: Divided by Blood. We hear Nayanthara—who recently made a splash in Bollywood with Jawan—has been approached to play the female lead.    

Producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani are said to be making the pan-India film in two parts. Suriya is expected to kick off the shoot of the first instalment after he wraps up director Sudha Kongara’s yet-untitled next.