Ashutosh Gowariker shelves his epic movie ‘Buddha’

Spicezee Bureau

Mumbai: Unable to find a suitable lead for his most ambitious venture, Ashutosh Gowariker has put his epic movie ‘Buddha’ on hold. Talking to a news daily, a source said that Ashutosh doesn’t want to take any risk with his coveted project. However, with both ‘Raavan’ and ‘Kites’ failing at the Box Office, Ashutosh is quite wary of the entire situation, as he is still unable to find a suitable actor to play Buddha. Buzz has it that Ashutosh spent nearly three months conducting auditions with applicants ranging from all over the world. It is believed that Ashutosh and the casting team of the film conducted a massive online search, while auditioning scores of actors only to be disappointed at last. Speaking to a news daily, Ashutosh confirmed the reports and said, "An extensive worldwide search has been undertaken to find the right face and actor to play Gautam Buddha. Over 2000 numerous screen tests from all over the world came in but unfortunately, I have not found the right face yet. This is a very difficult casting, as I need an actor who will have the innocence of Prince Siddhartha and the compassion of Buddha -- a rare combination! The hunt is still on and till then, Dr Modi and I have paused all pre-production on the film." Buzz has it that Ashutosh received three thousand and seven hundred entries for the title role of ‘Buddha’.