by Subhash K Jha

Mythology never had it so good. Two of the country's pre-eminent filmmakers from two corners of the country are all set to do their own take on the Hindu epic Mahabharat.

Mani Rathnam has started spade-work on his version of the Hindu epic which Bobby Bedi will produce. Rituparno Ghosh has already started scripting his version of the Mahabharat which will be produced by RPG, the film -production sector of Sa Re Ga Ma/HMV.

Ritu who has just completed a new Bengali film Doshar is quick to clarify, " Please, EVERYONE is making Mahabharat! My film is not about the entire Mahabharat. It will therefore not clash with Mani's plans at all. Mine is a WOMANIST view of the Mahabharat. It will focus almost entirely on the female characters particularly Draupadi who I think is one of the most fascinating women in our mythical culture."

Ritu's epic will start shooting in mid- 2006. "Ideally I'd have wanted it to be only in English. For Hindi audiences the image of B.R Chopra's tele-thon Mahabharat is indelible. However my producers want Draupadi to be a bi-lingual. So be it."

Other pitched battle of equals this year....

Ram Gopal Varma's Sholay Versus Farhan Akhtar's Don
Ashutosh Gowariker's Jodha-Akbar Versus Chandraprakash Diwedi's Prithviraj-Sanjukta
Rakesh Roshan's Krissh Versus Yashraj Films' Dhoom 2
Pritish Nandy's Sahib Bibi Aur Ghulam Versus Vishal Bhardawaj's Othello
Nikhil Advani's Salaam-e-Ishq Versus Kunal Kohli's Fanaah.