Director Shyam Benegal now wants to make a big budget film on the life of Gautam Buddha and wants Hrithik Roshan to play the lead.

The filmmaker thinks Hrithik Roshan is perfectly suited to play the role of Buddha because the actor's face has a calm serenity.

Benegal has already approached Hrithik with an offer for the role and the actor has expressed interest in the project and has asked for its script.

Benegal and his team of writers are now putting the script together.

Buddhist texts and biographies of Buddha by various historians are being used as reference material for the script, which is reportedly being written by Atul Tiwari.

Shyam Benegal wants to start the film next year. By then, Hrithik also would have recuperated from his knee injury because of which Hrithik has taken 2-3 months' break from work.