Ram Gopal Varma film on NTR to focus on his widow, TDP angry
HYDERABAD: The much-talked about biopic on legendary Telugu actor and former chief minister of combined Andhra Pradesh NT Rama Rao has kicked up a political controversy.
While NTR’S son and senior Telugu hero Nandamuri Balakrishna is gearing up to make a biopic on his father, film maker Ram Gopal Varma announced last week that he would make a parallel film on NTR with focus on the latter’s widow Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi.
In his Facebook page Varma said instead of a biopic, he was planning to make a film on the last days of the legendary actor, exposing the truths and lies of those who had “punched in his stomach and stabbed in his back,” indirectly referring to present Telugu Desam Party president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who had dethroned NTR, his father-inlaw, to grab power in an alleged coup in August 1995. NTR died less than six months later on January 18, 1996.
Varma announced that the title of his film would be Lakshmi’s NTR and would depict what actually had happened in NTR’S life.
Varma’s announcement triggered wild reactions from the TDP camp . “Varma has no right to distort the life of NTR. He should take permission from Naidu before finalising the script and after the completion of the film... If there is any attempt to malign his image, we will not allow the film to be released in the state,” TDP official spokesman and MLC Babu Rajendra Prasad said.
But, Varma defended his move to make the film on NTR with focus on Lakshmi Parvathi. “Anybody can make any film on
He (Ram Gopal Varma) should take permission from (Chandrababu) Naidu before finalising the script and after the completion of the film... If there is any attempt to malign his (CM’S) image, we will not allow film’s release. BABU RAJENDRA PRASAD, official spokesperson of TDP
NTR. Parvathi must be definitely something special otherwise, such a great leader would not have accepted her as his wife,” the filmmaker said.
When contacted, Parvathi said Varma had taken her approval to make the film . “All these days, the TDP leaders had projected me as a villain. At least now, they will get an opportunity to know the facts through Varma’s film,” Parvathi said. MUMBAI: The trial for the murder of former journalist J Dey has taken an unusual turn with the court ordering police protection for four witnesses after one of them claimed four men had turned up at his home and threatened him.
A man passing by when two men on a motorcycle shot dead Dey who was riding towards his home in Powai on June 11, 2011; a home guard who was on duty in the area, and two independent witnesses to the recording of the panchnama, who are called panch witnesses, are the four who are to be provided police protection.
The court order came after public prosecutor Pradeep Gharat moved an application under Section 19 of the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) seeking protection for four witnesses.
This is not the first time witnesses have claimed they were threatened in this case in which underworld don Chhota Rajan is accused of ordering the hit on the journalist.
Two other eyewitnesses failed to appear before the court despite being summoned twice, saying they feared a threat to their lives.
The prosecution told the court the home guard had identified the shooters and their bike and therefore his deposition would prove crucial.
The court allowed the prosecution’s plea and directed the police to protect all four witnesses. The witnesses would be brought before the court soon, the public prosecutor informed. The prosecution has so far examined 128 witnesses in the murder case.