NTR’S Recent Biopic Lands in Controversy Over Depiction of TDP Ally Congress

Amravati: The second part of biopic series on the life of NT Rama Rao is creating quite the buzz since its release on Friday for its controversial depiction of the Congress party.

Produced by the Telugu Desam Party founder's son MLA Nandamuri Balakrishnan the two parts - NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu - follow the life of the former Andhra Pradesh chief minister. Balakrishnan has been cast in the role of NTR in the series.

The first part, released on January 9, drew on NTR’s life from his childhood till his entry into politics, including the creation of the Telugu Desam Party.

The second part in the instalment, NTR Mahanayakudu, takes that narrative forward describing the events leading to NTR’s dethroning.

The film particularly dwells on how the Congress Party’s high command was responsible for destroying the NTR government with the support of former TDP Leader and former Andhra Pradesh CM Nadendla Bhaskara Rao. The film eventually concludes with the dethroning of NTR by son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu.

It is this antagonistic portrayal of Congress which has landed the film in a controversy with the TDP’s ally even slamming the party.

“On one side you are trying to ally with the Congress and on the other side you are blaming the party; this is not fair. We demand the immediate removal of these objectionable scenes from the movie,” AP Congress president Raghuveera Reddy told News18.

Meanwhile, opposition YSR Congress Party has also criticised the biopic calling it a “distortion” of history. “The people of Telugu states knew about how Chandrababu Naidu backstabbed NTR and forcibly took away his government. This is not NTR’s biopic. This is Chandrababu Naidu’s biopic,” YSRCP official spokesperson Rajashekar told News18.

Interestingly, another NTR biopic made by a YSRCP supporter this time is expected to release soon. The film, Laxmi’s NTR, is directed by Ramgopal Varma and chronicles the crucial events in NTR's life after he meets Telugu research scholar and politician Lakshmi Parvathi.

The film will also delve into the controversial circumstances around NTR’s dethronement and the political controversies that ravaged the party at the time.

“I have the courage to tell the facts in my film. I don’t have any political intention and my only intention is to tell the facts behind NTR’s death,” said the film’s director Ram Gopal Varma.