The Telugu Desam Party and the BJP have been at loggerheads ever since the former pulled out of the NDA coalition at the Centre. It reached a ridiculous level on Friday, the BJP claiming that the Centre faired better than the TDP led government — and they based this on the films made on the parties.
BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao, who has been regularly attacking the Chandrababu Naidu-led government in Andhra Pradesh and accusing him of appropriating Central government schemes, said, “Your (TDP) politics is happening in a cinema style for the last 10 months, that's why nobody is coming to watch your films. Whereas, films based on the success of our government like Uri, based on surgical strikes, turned out to be a huge hit. We didn't produce it, people themselves have appreciated it.”
"But films produced by you... At least, earlier people used to go to theatres to watch NTR's face, but to my knowledge no film is such a disaster as this film," he said, referring to the recently released two-part film — NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu — the biopic made on TDP founder and former Andhra Chief Minister NT Rama Rao.
Narasimha Rao said that people are reluctant to watch these films because they were far from reality. "The film’s failure displays the hatred of people against your party."
NTR Kathanayakudu was released on January 9 and NTR Mahanayakudu was released on Friday. The film was produced and acted by NTR's son, Balakrishna, the TDP MLA from Hindupur. Critics have dubbed the film as propaganda, in order to woo voters ahead of the elections. NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu weren't the only exceptions. Yatra, a biopic on late CM YS Rajasekhara Reddy which released last month was also termed 'propaganda' film. However, the YSR Congress Party, which is led by YSR’s son, denied any association with the film.
The TDP exited the NDA in March 2017 after the BJP-led government at the Centre refused to grant Special Category Status to the state, which they demanded as per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act 2014.