Dinesh Vijan is already thinking beyond the Chhaava high. At FICCI Frames 2026, the producer described Mahavatar as “six times the size” of the Vicky Kaushal-led historical drama, framing the film as one of Maddock Films’ biggest theatrical swings yet.
What made the comment especially striking was the way Vijan linked Mahavatar to the larger mythological moment now building in Hindi cinema. While outlining the film’s scale and ambition, he pointed to Ramayana as the kind of event release that could help prepare audiences worldwide for stories drawn from Indian mythology and culture on an even bigger canvas.
Dinesh Vijan Opens Up On Mahavatar’s Scale
Speaking during a panel on theatrical business in the streaming era, Vijan first reflected on the uncertainty around Chhaava. “We didn’t know how to make Chhaava (2025). Vicky Kaushal had never played a historical figure. Laxman Utekar had never directed a film of this kind. But it was about survival,” he said, adding that the film recovered its money from theatres.
He then turned to Mahavatar and explained just how aggressive the leap is. “We are attempting to make a film called Mahavatar, which is about the sixth avatar of Lord Vishnu, Parshuram. With this film, we are trying to go really global. At times, I wonder ‘How are we gonna do this?’. It’s six times the size of Chhaava. We cannot go to the world and say ‘We are offering you something smaller’. We are going to take our culture and present it in the best possible way.”
Vijan also made it clear that he sees Ramayana as an important theatrical pathbreaker for such storytelling. Recalling his conversation with Namit Malhotra, he said, “If Ramayana runs, Mahavatar is all set.” He added that Ramayana deals with the seventh avatar of Lord Vishnu, while Mahavatar focuses on the sixth avatar, Parshuram.
Why Chhaava Became The Launchpad For Mahavatar
That comparison is central to understanding Maddock’s next move. Mahavatar has been announced as a Maddock Films production with Vicky Kaushal playing Parshuram and Amar Kaushik directing, with a Christmas 2026 theatrical release date. By placing it against Chhaava, Vijan effectively signaled that the new film is being designed not as an incremental step, but as a much larger mythological spectacle.
The benchmark matters because Chhaava, directed by Laxman Utekar, proved that Kaushal could command a large-scale period film and pull audiences into a deeply rooted Indian narrative mounted for mainstream theatrical play.
Why Vicky Kaushal Is Central To This Big Bet
Kaushal’s recent theatrical run explains why Maddock is building such an ambitious project around him. After leading films such as Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, Sam Bahadur, Bad Newz, and Chhaava, he has steadily expanded his range across romance, biography, comedy, and historical drama while strengthening his pull with cinema audiences.
That momentum gives Mahavatar extra weight. Maddock is not simply casting a star in a mythological role, it is backing an actor who has just come off a major theatrical surge and is now being positioned at the center of a culturally rooted film with global aspirations. Kaushal is also set to be seen in Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Love & War in 2026, but Vijan’s latest remarks make it clear that Mahavatar is being treated as a defining scale test for both the actor and the studio.
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