Samantha was the original choice to play Savitri in 'Mahanati'

It is well known that Keerthy Suresh is playing the legendary actor Savitri in her biopic Mahanati. The multilingual film to be released in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam is currently being shot in various locations.

While Keerthy is now playing Savitri, did you know that the first choice for the role was Samantha? Yes, Samantha who is now playing a journalist in the film, was first considered for the title role. But she was replaced with Keerthy Suresh after the film’s director Nag Ashwin felt that a new face would be more apt for the role.

Moreover, the film will be told from the journalist’s perspectiv, therefore, Samantha would have a meaty role to play in it. According to sources close to the filmmakers, Samantha was extremely sportive about the roles being swapped and agreed to be a part of the biopic.

Directed by Nag Ashwin and produced under the banner Vyjayanthi Movies, the film is gearing up for release on March 29th next year. It has an impressive start cast with Keerthy Suresh as Savitri, Dulquer Salmaan as Gemini Ganesan, Samantha Akkineni as Jamuna, Mohan Babu as SV Ranga Rao, Vijay Devarakonda, Shalini Pandey and Prakash Raj as Aluri Chakrapani. Mickey J Meyer is composing music for this film with cinematographer Dani Sanchez-Lopez cranking the camera.

The film’s Telugu version is titled Mahanati, while its Tamil version is Nadgayar Thilagam. Born on 6 December 1936, Savitri was one of the finest actors in tinsel town. She has acted in scores of Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi movies. She was married to actor Gemini Ganesan and had two children. Savitri, the recipient of several awards and honors including the Rashtrapati Award, Nandi Award, and Kalaimamani, reportedly died of substance abuse at the age of 47.