Ahead of the release of Lakshmi’s NTR this Friday, director Ram Gopal Varma says it was Balakrishna who first gave him the idea to do the film. “Balakrishna met me to discuss a biopic on NTR, which is when I got this idea. However, I was away in Mumbai after that with no access to social media, so I really had no clue about the events that followed. I simply took my idea forward and the film happened, which is why I have dedicated it to Nandamuri Balakrishna,” says Ram Gopal Varma.
Asked if Balakrishna “really” met him to discuss about his biopic, and RGV clarifies, “I met him and that’s the truth. However, my story starts after Lakshmi Parvathi entered into NTR’s life. The Nadendla Bhaskar Rao episode is not there in my film.”
The maverick director firmly states that the late CM’s son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu is the bigger backstabber of the two. “Nadendla and NTR met only on the political front, whereas Chandrababu Naidu backstabbed him despite being a family member. There lies the bigger conspiracy, because NTR believed him a lot,” says RGV, sharing that he gathered a lot of information and met many people for his film.
“No one knows the actual truth and after gathering so much information, whatever I believed, I showed it in this film,” he says.
Adding that this film is a special one in his career, the director says, “NTR is a popular Telugu figure and since his last days were extremely tragic, it was a difficult and emotional task for me to tell the story which I tried to do with great responsibility. The more sensitive and complex matters are, the more people are watching it. I have tried to be as truthful to NTR as possible.”
So will his film have an impact on voters in the coming elections?
“The voter sees many elements like government policies but the most important one is trust. I don’t know how voters will feel after watching my film,” he says, even as he is reluctant to name who is likely to become the CM of Andhra Pradesh.
“I don’t know and I can’t predict. Whoever comes, things will never change, because change only happens through process,” he says.
