The Andhra Pradesh government on Thursday sought that the title of director Ram Gopal Varma's upcoming film Kamma Rajyamlo Kadapa Reddlu (Kadapa Reddys in the Kamma kingdom), be changed.
In a letter to the Regional Officer, at the Regional Board of Film Certification in Hyderabad, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, Advisor to the Andhra Pradesh Government (Public Affairs), said that the movie was scheduled to be released on November 29.
"The title and the poster suggests that there is a confrontation between two castes, and two trailers of the said film were released earlier to build up tempo and the teasers have raised much commotion," Ramakrishna Reddy wrote.
"We request you to direct the concerned production house to change the title as it has caste-based overtones and civil society with social responsibility cannot accept such a title that has a direct reference to two castes," he added.
The letter went on to add, "Without getting into the details of the film, the storyline, content and narrative, we firmly believe that such a title is not acceptable and it should be changed in the better interest of the society."
A copy of the letter was also marked to the Chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) in Mumbai and to the Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Ram Gopal Varma told reporters that if the censor board had a problem with the title, he was willing to change it to Amma rajyamlo Kadapa biddalu (Kadapa sons in the mother's kingdom).
In the recently released trailer of KRKR, Malayalam actor Ajmal Amir plays the role of Jagan Mohan Reddy. RGV has managed to cast many lookalikes of the who’s who of Andhra politics, including Praja Shanti Party’s leader KA Paul, Chandrababu Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh.
Kamma Rajyamlo Kadapa Reddlu (KRKR) is RGV’s next film after Lakshmi’s NTR, which released amid many controversies in both the Telugu states. The film explored NTR’s relationship with his second wife Lakshmi Parvathy and also portrayed ex-Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu in a negative light.