Tollywood’s most awaited biopic NTR-Kathanayakudu is all set to release on January 9. Produced by N Balakrishna, the actor also plays NT Rama Rao, one of the most revered actors and politicians of undivided Andhra Pradesh. Owing to Balayya’s huge fan base in both the Telugu states, the makers of the movie are eyeing for a big release in both AP and Telangana and also in certain parts of Tamil Nadu. NTR-Kathanayakudu will trace NTR’s life as one of the most successful actors of Tollywood in the '70s and '80s and NTR-Mahanayakudu, the second part of the biopic, will portray NTR’s jump into politics and the formation of the Telugu Desam Party. Mahanayakudu will hit the screens on February 8.
According to sources close to the film, NTR-Kathanayakudu will be releasing in over 1,000 screens in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and certain parts of Tamil Nadu. The film is also gearing up for a major release in Karnataka, a state with a considerable Telugu population. Out of the five south Indian states, Kerala remains an exception where neither the actors nor the movie makers have carried out promotions of any kind. The film, till date, also hasn’t got any screens for release in the state.
Speaking to TNM, Vishnu, the PRO for the movie, said that the film is also releasing in Maharashtra and overseas in Australia, the USA, Canada and in a number of Gulf countries.
“There are plans to dub the movie into other regional languages later. Day after tomorrow, the movie will be hitting screens worldwide only in Telugu,” Vishnu added.
The film has bagged multiple distributors in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While Asian Cinemas is the major distributor in Telangana, Vintage Creations, Padmakar Cinemas and USHA Pictures are the official distributors in Andhra Pradesh. In Tamil Nadu, SPI Cinemas are distributing the film and in north India, AA films is the distributor.
The satellite rights of the NTR biopic have been sold for Rs 25 crore to Gemini pictures.
When asked about the expectations on collections on Day One of the release, considering the huge profits Balayya movies earn, Vishnu says the makers do not have any calculations in their mind and are now only concerned about the audience's reception.
“If it’s a mass movie like Ram Charan’s upcoming Vinaya Vidheya Rama, anyone can put a bet on its first-day collection. But NTR is an experimental movie and traces the life of a person who was once close to the heart of the Tollywood audience. So we do not know how the audience is going to perceive the movie, and whenever Balayya has come in an unconventional role, results have only been contrary to anybody’s expectations,” says Vishnu.
NTR-Mahanayakudu, the second part of the movie, will be hitting the silver screens on February 8.
“Mahanayakudu is releasing after a month’s gap because initially, the makers wanted the entire story to be told in a single film. But the run-time was coming close to five hours after which the makers decided to release it in two parts. Therefore, the audience will not have to wait for a year to watch the second part as all the work related to both the movies have been completed,” Vishnu explains.
The NTR biopic is being helmed by J Krish and produced jointly N Balakrishna along with Vishnu Induri and Sai Korrapati. The film has an impressive star cast with Vidya Balan, Mohan Babu, Sumanth, Keerthy Suresh, Rana Daggubati and others. N Balakrishna will be seen playing his dad NTR in the film, and it will have Sumanth playing Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Vidya Balan as NTR’s wife Basvatharakam, and Rana Daggubati as N Chandrababu Naidu. MM Keeravani is composing music for this venture with Gnana Shekar V.S handling the cinematography and Arram Ramakrishna editing it.