The makers of Yatra, the much awaited biopic on the life of Andhra’s late political leader YS Rajashekhar Reddy, released the movie’s trailer on Monday. The trailer is a sneak-peek into the famous Padyatra that YSR embarked on in 2003, covering a distance of 1,475 km, an event which was a turning point not only in his political career but also in Andhra politics.
The trailer begins with Mammootty as YSR having a conversation with a political leader where he asserts that he cannot be a puppet to the whims of his party. He further goes on to say how everyone identifies what a political leader requires but doesn’t care enough to know what the people want. In a striking wordplay, YSR says he wants to cross the Gadappa (the doors) into people’s Kadappa (metaphor for people’s homes), Kadappa being YSR’s home district.
Mammootty has carefully imitated the mannerisms of the late leader and has caught the viewers’ attention, clad in a white dhoti and shirt and wearing sports shoes, almost all throughout the trailer. But his charisma is slightly let down by the heavy influence of Malayalam in delivering Telugu dialogues.
The movie trailer essentially shows how YSR began his padyatra, in a bid to identify his people’s problems and how the journey eventually became successful in swaying votes to the politician’s favour in the next assembly elections. He travels to places that are plagued by the agrarian crisis and visits people suffering from cancer.
“The biggest disease is not cancer but poverty. Poverty is the worst punishment that people can suffer,” YSR says in the trailer.
The visuals are quite powerful, as they show how the journey begins with a small crowd travelling along with YSR, to huge crowds thronging the leader irrespective of the time of the day across districts. Actor Suhasini Maniratanam, playing Congress leader Sabitha Indra Reddy, is seen accompanying YSR in many parts of the trailer.
“Rajashekhara, I will cast my vote, not for you party but only for you,” the trailer concludes with Mammootty acknowledging people’s love for their leader.
Mahi V Raghav, director of the biopic, had told TNM in an interview earlier, “We are taking the events from 2003 to the padayatra. It is structured as a road film. If you look at the character, in 2003, YSR was facing a now or never moment. Had he lost that election, no one would have known YSR much. He had 30 years of political experience but had to come out with something new, which he did in the form of a padayatra. Structurally, we see the event as a pivotal happening. The story ends with him finishing the Yatra.”
The film is being produced jointly by Vijay Chilla and Shashi Devi under the banner of 70MM Entertainments. Apart from Mammootty, it has Suhasini Maniratnam and Jagapathi Babu in pivotal roles. The technical crew of the film includes K for composing the tunes, Sathyan Sooryan for a camera and A Sreekar Prasad for editing. The movie will be released simultaneously in Telugu and Tamil.