A Tamil-Telugu bilingual on legendary southern actress Savitri directed by Nag Ashwin, is in the making. The film stars Keerthy Suresh in the titular role of the veteran star and she had stated that it is an honour to play such an iconic personality so early on in her career. The project was originally scheduled to release on March 30. However, the makers have confirmed that the film, which is high on visual effects, can’t make it to theatres this month and will hit the screens on May 9. The film will be released in Tamil as Nadigaiyar Thilagam and as Mahanati in Telugu.
Apparently, the team is way behind their plans to complete the project. Director Nag Ashwin had revealed in his interview to Firstpost: “We were supposed to come this month end. But, the VFX process is taking more time than expected and we don’t want to rush and compromise on the output. Therefore, this month looks quite tight.” It was recently confirmed that actor Naga Chaitanya has been signed to play his late grandfather Akkineni Nageswara Rao in this project. The makers are in talks with Jr. NTR to play his grandfather in the film.
Dulquer Salmaan, who makes his Telugu debut via this project, will be seen playing actor Gemini Ganesan. With massive set pieces, the film will be unlike anything that’s explored in Indian cinema.
Also starring Samantha Akkineni, Vijay Deverakonda, Shalini Pandey and Prakash Raj, the film is being made on a lavish scale. When asked why a biopic on Savitri and not on any other popular actress is being made, Ashwin had said: “There have been countless actresses over the last 80 years in Telugu cinema but none have earned the title of Mahanati, and even today it has solely been reserved for Savitri.”
(Content provided by Digital Native)