On the eve of veteran Tollywood actor Kaikala Satyanarayana’s birthday, the makers of the NTR biopic unveiled the first look poster of the actor playing the role of HM Reddy in the film.
HM Reddy was a producer and director known for his works in Telugu cinema. He directed the first south Indian talkie film Kalidas which was shot both in Telugu and Tamil. He then produced and directed the first full length Telugu sound film, Bhakta Prahlada in 1932.
To the delight of his fans, Kaikala Satyanarayana is gracing the silver screen after a gap of 5 years and more importantly in a biopic of the legendary actor and politician NTR with whom he had associated for several films.
In the poster, Kaikala aka HM Reddy can be seen observing a film negative through a magnifying glass.
Satyanarayana, who had an uncanny resemblance to NTR, played dupe to NTR in several Telugu movies. NTR offered Satyanarayana a role in his film Apoorva Sahasra Siraccheda Chintamani in 1960, directed by S. D. Lal in which he played the role of a prince.
Satyanarayana was last seen in the movie Sri Jagadguru Adi Sankara in 2013.
One thing that has been impressive so far is director Krish’s casting - he has been roping in prominent actors for crucial roles in the biopic. Veteran actors like Prakash Raj, Naresh and Murali Sharma are already on board for the film.
While Vidya Balan will be playing the role of NTR’s wife, Basavatharakam in the movie, Keerthy Suresh has been roped in to play Savitri. The legendary actor had shared screen space with NTR in several movies during their heydays and Keerthy Suresh had played Savitri in Mahanati.
Reports say that Jisshu will be seen playing the late prolific filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke winner LV Prasad while Sachin will be donning the greasepaint as the ex-chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Nadhendla Bhaskar Rao.
The biopic is bankrolled by N Balakrishna along with Sai Korrapati and Vishnu Induri. Director Teja was initially roped in to direct it but he opted out for various reasons and now the project is helmed by J Krish.
(With inputs from Digital Native)