Before Dhurandhar, Aditya Dhar was attached to direct the superhero film with mythological elements - The Immortal Ashwatthama. The movie was supposed to be Dhar's follow up directorial after the successful Uri: The Surgical Strike and would reunite him with Vicky Kaushal. The project was announced in October 2020 with a couple of concept posters. While all eyes were on this genre defining film, it got caught up in delays. At one point, reports surfaced that the makers even went on the floors with The Immortal Ashwatthama, shot some portions and realised that there was a budget overreach issue coming their way.

Silently, the film was shelved. During the promotions of Dhurandhar, Dhar confirmed that budget constraints led to the film getting shelved and that he would revive the project once the tech is more affordable for Indian cinema stakeholders. After the unprecedented success of Dhurandhar, fans have urged Dhar to start working on The Immortal Ashwatthama. However, the director remains committed to delivering Dhurandhar: The Revenge first.

In a new interview, Suniel Shetty shared that he was supposed to feature in The Immortal Ashwatthama in a pivotal role and that he had signed the contract too. He lamented the movie was eventually shelved. Suniel also shared that after watching Dhurandhar, he wished he had a role in it.

“Dhurandhar dekhi maine (I watched Dhurandhar). Mindblowing film, I felt... I told Aditya that, because I was to play a role in Aditya's Ashwatthama (The Immortal Ashwatthama). Shelve ho gayi, signing ho gaya, sab kuchh ho gaya. Toh jab maine Dhurandhar dekhi toh I said yaar (It got shelved, the signing was done, everything was done. So when I saw Dhurandhar, I said, oh) I wish I could be a part of it,” Suniel told Lehren. Ronnie Screwvala was supposed to produce The Immortal Ashwatthama under his banner RSVP Movies.