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The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders have appealed to the Election Commission to stop the release of Lakshmi’s NTR, a biopic of TDP founder and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister NT Rama Rao, till the elections are over.
The film, directed by Ram Gopal Varma, is slated for release on March 29 after a few weeks of uncertainty. The TDP is worried because Verma has dropped enough hints on what is in store.
As the campaign reaches a peak in Andhra Pradesh, with TDP, YSRCP and Jana Sena engaged in a war of words, the ruling party doesn’t want the film to be screened as it might work against its interests in the elections.
Varma posted several tweets and gave TV interviews in the last few months, talking about the storyline, which, the TDP thinks, will recap the series of incidents in August 1995 that led to the unseating of NTR as the Chief Minister and ascendancy of Chandrababu Naidu, the present chief minister and NTR’s son-in-law.
Varma sprang a surprise by roping in an actor that resembles NTR, equally matched by a mimicked voice that takes the audience to the fond memories of his booming voice.
The film is said to have captured the story of NTR from the perspective of Lakshmiparvati, the second wife of the actor-politician.
Soon after the ‘coup’, NTR went on record blaming Chandrababu Naidu for his ouster. He could not survive the ‘August crisis’ of 1995 and passed away a few month later.
Incidentally, Varma’s biopic is sedond biopic on NTR, the first being produced by his actor-son Balakrishna recently. It, however, didn’t do well at the box office.
With Varma vowing to document the happenings of the August crisis, the TDP is obviously worried. It doesn’t want the sour memories to be revived. It alleged that the film is politically motivated. TDP followers alleged that the film is being produced by people from its political opponent YSRCP.
The party leaders approached the courts and the Censor Board, seeking to stop the release of the film. It, however, gets the nod from the both, clearing the way for its release.
“We are releasing the songs in YouTube tonight,” Verma said in a tweet on Wednesday.
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