Ram Gopal Varma isn’t a stranger to courting trouble, whether he’s making a film inspired by real-life personalities or cheekily expressing his views on social media. His every move is being closely watched as the release date of his film, Lakshmi’s NTR , inches closer. The film was scheduled to release on March 22, before being rescheduled to March 29. Varma is confident that his film will not face any further roadblocks. At a media interaction in Hyderabad on Friday, he stated that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is yet to watch the film but he isn’t anticipating trouble: “It’s a democratic country and we’ve made a film that, I feel, has nothing that the CBFC might take objection to.”
Earlier, the Telangana High Court cleared the release of the film and dismissed a plea seeking a ban on its release before the first phase of elections.
Lakshmi’s NTR comes in the wake of a series of political biopics that have dominated the early part of 2019 in Telugu cinema. The NTR biopic (which released in two parts, Kathanayakudu and Mahanayakudu ) directed by Krish Jagarlamudi and starring Nandamuri Balakrishna, traced the life of NTR as an actor, his entry into politics and ended with him rising above the coup by Nadendla Bhaskara Rao. Varma emphasised that Lakshmi’s NTR will begin in 1989 when Lakshmi Parvathi entered the life of NTR. “This film will show their bond, the events that led to the coup at Viceroy hotel in 1995 and what caused NTR mental trauma and led to his decline and demise,” he said.
For Lakshmi’s NTR , Varma shares the directorial credits with Agasthya Manju. Theatre actor Vijaykumar makes his film debut as NTR and Kannada actress Yagna Shetty is cast as Lakshmi Parvathi. Interestingly, Balakrishna had met Varma initially for his version of the NTR biopic. Recalling the meeting, Varma stated, “Balakrishna was not keen on the biopic discussing the phase of NTR’s life that involved Lakshmi Parvathi and the political coup by Chandrababu Naidu. I felt there wasn’t enough conflict in NTR’s life as an actor and his early years in politics. It’s a linear story until Lakshmi Parvathi’s entry. So I didn’t want to do it. The idea of making Lakshmi’s NTR came after meeting Balakrishna.”
Varma revealed that he met more than 30 people while researching the subject. However, he did not meet any of the principal characters involved in NTR’s life at that time. “Because their version of the story would have an agenda. Situations have changed and foes would have turned friends and vice versa. I met people who are not in the limelight, read books and relied on material available in public domain, including interviews given by NTR. Lakshmi’s NTR tells a story that I believe is the truth.”
When asked if he had portrayed Naidu as the conspirator and gave Lakshmi Parvathy a clean chit, Varma maintained, “The answers are in the film.”
Varma sounded confident of the film’s release in Andhra Pradesh and added, “The responsibility of preventing any element from disrupting law and order rests on Chandrababu Naidu and I’m confident that he will ensure the release of the film.”
Before winding up, Varma expressed his interest in making a biopic on Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao but stated that research was in its initial phase and nothing has been finalised.
