Bollywood actor Aamir Khan has shelved his plan to create a mega web series on the Hindu epic Mahabharata, Bollywood Hungama has reported.

As per the report, the actor and his team had been researching on the subject for the past two years but has now decided to shelve the project at least for the near future.

"Aamir can’t afford to devote two years of his life to make a web series. He needs to quickly announce his presence in a big star-studded feature film directed by a reliable director", the report quotes a source as saying.

The source adds that "there were bound to be unsavoury controversies surrounding the project. Aamir feels now is not the right time to make the Mahabharata".

As reported, it was speculated that Khan was supposed to play the role of Lord Krishna. The project was initially planned as a multi-movie series likely to be co-produced by billionaire businessman Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) Chief Mukesh Ambani.

The ambitious project was estimated to cost a whopping Rs 1000 crore for the entire series. It was claimed that the project would have been along the lines of The Lord Of The Rings, and Game of Thrones in-terms of production value.

It remains to be seen whether the plan to shelve the project was a result of rising anger over Hinduphobic depictions in Web Series' on OTT platforms.

Amazon Prime Video web series Tandav had stirred up a row recently on charges of mocking and targeting Lord Shiva in the series, with many terming it as Hinduphobic content.

Khan himself had courted controversy last year after he met Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan in Istanbul.

The meeting came in the backdrop of sharp deterioration in the official relationship between India and Turkey.

Indian government officials had recently expressed serious apprehension on the funding received by radical Islamist organisations operating in Kashmir and Kerala from Turkish outfits backed by Recep Tayyip Erdogan.