The Madras High Court has directed Yatra filmmakers to respond by February 6 to Chennai based Sri Saai Lakshmi Pictures on their petition that asks for the Tamil version of the film to be stopped from releasing. Yatra is set to release on February 8.
Justice Sundar was hearing a petition filed by Sri Saai Lakshmi Pictures, who have allegedly registered the film title Yaathra with the Film and Television Producers Guild of South India on 2 February 2018 and renewed it on 19.10.2018.
Sri Saai Lakshmi Pictures claims that the Yatra makers cannot use the film’s title in Tamil since it has already been registered by them.
This Telugu film is a biopic on the life of former Andhra Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, starring Mammootty in the lead. It has been produced by 70 mm International Films. The film has been dubbed in Tamil and Malayalam.
The film is all about Congress leader YS Rajashekara Reddy’s remarkable journey which changed his life and the political landscape of AP back in 2004. Directed by Mahi V Raghav, the film focuses on YSR’s padayatra, which brought him closer to the people in the state and paved the way for his victory in the elections.
“We are taking the events from 2003 to the padayatra. It is structured as a road film. If you look at the character, in 2003, YSR was facing a now or never moment. Had he lost that election, no one would have known YSR much. He had 30 years of political experience but had to come out with something new, which he did in the form of a padayatra. Structurally, we see the event as a pivotal happening. The story ends with him finishing the Yatra,” Mahi V Raghav, director of the biopic, had told TNM in an interview earlier.
Yatra also stars Suhasini Maniratnam as the former minister Sabitha Indra Reddy, Jagapathi Babu as YSR's father YS Raja Reddy, and Rao Ramesh as KVP Ramachandra Rao, who was YSR's closest friend from his medical college days. The film has Anasuya Bharadwaj, Posani Krishna Murali, Vinod Kumar and Sachin Khedekar in supporting roles.
The music has been scored by K while Sathyan Sooryan has handled the cinematography and A Sreekar Prasad has done the editing.