The release of Mahanati, the highly anticipated biopic on yesteryear actor Savitri, is likely to be pushed from the scheduled date of March 30. This is because of the duel between the south Indian film industries and Digital Service Providers (DSPs) which resulted in several films getting delayed.
However, fans who have been waiting for the film with great expectations have a reason to cheer.
It has now been revealed that Naga Chaitanya will play the role of his grandfather, the late Akkineni Nageswara Rao in the film. ANR acted in several films like Missamma, Engal Veettu Mahalakshmi, Navaratri and so on with Savitri. The two of them also shared a good rapport off screen.
Mahanati stars Keerthy Suresh in the lead role and has a huge star cast including Dulquer Salmaan, Samantha Akkineni, Naga Chaitanya, Vijay Deverakonda and Prakash Raj.
Savitri, a popular actor in the '50s and '60s, played her first significant role in the film Pelli Choosu Choodu. She received several accolades in her career, including the Rashtrapati Award for the Telugu film Chivaraku Migiledi. Other famous films in which she has starred include Ardhangi, Maya Bazaar, and Doctor Chakravarthy.
Keerthy Suresh has acted in several films in Tamil and Telugu, opposite the leading stars of the industries. However, Mahanati, which revolves around her character, will undoubtedly be a special project for the young actor.
In a chat with Firstpost , director Nag Ashwin said, "With massive set pieces, the film will be unlike anything we’ve explored in Indian cinema."
He further added, "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."
The Tamil version of the film is titled Nadigaiyar Thilagam. The logo of the film got 1.7K views in just 25 minutes. The trailer of the film is yet to be released.