Ram Gopal Varma to make film on NTR with focus on his widow
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 making preparations for making a biopic on his father in the first half of next year, popular 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 in his last life.
Varma’s announcement triggered wild reactions . “He should take the permission of Naidu before finalising the script and after the completion of the film, it should be shown to the chief minister before the release... 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.