Will Lakshmi’s NTR sway voters in the battle for Andhra Pradesh?

Three biopics on the life of NT Rama Rao, two of them flattering to his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu and one painting the son-in-law as the villain, have cast their shadow on the crucial April 11 election in Andhra Pradesh to elect a new assembly as well as 25 members to the Lok Sabha.

The two-part biopic flattering to the AP chief minister was produced by his son and released in the last three months. The unflattering biopic, Lakshmi’s NTR, made by director Ram Gopal Varma got into trouble after TDP complained that Varma had tweeted a part of the film and asked viewers to convey how effectively it would influence the election.

While the High Court stayed the release and the Supreme Court refused the plea for an urgent hearing, pirated versions of the film and parts thereof were released on social media and have gone viral, worrying TDP days before the election.

It was the filmy god NT Rama Rao (NTR) who became the vehicle of power for Kammas, a rich landowning class of Andhra Pradesh that never had political power in the 80s.

In a film-crazed state like Andhra Pradesh that produces the highest number of feature films in the country, it was only natural that stardom aided by a political narrative helped him beat a party that won freedom for the country and that too within just nine months of floating the party.

NTR had that charisma and pull – and the political team of backroom boys and lever operators who wrote the winning script for him. It had a media baron, political strategists and money bags guiding the star and who sold him to the masses, who were anyway craving for him.

Cut to the present: His life story, told from two perspectives – one that paints his son-in-law as the villain and the other as a good man. In Andhra Pradesh, as in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, film stars and films have always been used for political messaging.

Film maker from Mumbai, director Ram Gopal Varma, told the story of NTR through his wife Lakshmi Parvati’s perspective in which Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is painted as the villain. She had alleged that Chandrababu Naidu had stabbed her husband in the back and usurped power.

The Andhra Pradesh High Court had stayed the release of the film in Andhra Pradesh and the Supreme Court too refrained from granting relief to the film Lakshmi’s NTR any relief in terms of giving an early hearing to the plea challenging the high court order. It was slated for March 29 release in Andhra Pradesh.

To beat a film, use a film seems to be the dictum in Andhra Pradesh. So, comes Balakrishna, actor and NTR’s son with a biopic on his father. Tracing his father’s life from childhood, the part one of the biopic—titled NTR Kathanayakudu ends with NTR’s anointment as the popularly elected Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. NTR’s journey from an actor to politician is documented in the film, with his son-in-law and current CM Chandrababu Naidu shown as an obedient and loyal soldier.

The second part of the biopic, NTR Mahanayakudu is expected to deal with his political life and times and is said to be softer on the role of Chandrababu Naidu in the politics of Telugu Desam and Andhra Pradesh.

The second part of the biopic was released in February but didn’t do as well as the first part. Some reviewers said it had flopped and was a disaster. While others criticised it for the hagiography.