The announcement made by Chennai-based film maker Kethireddy Jagadeeshwar Reddy that he would make a film on the story of Nandamuri Lakshmi Parvathi, widow of Telugu Desam Party founder and legendary actor late N T Rama Rao, has stirred a controversy in the film circles.
The Tollywood is already witnessing a cold war between NTR’s son Nandamuri Balakrishna and maverick director Ram Gopal Varma on the making of biopic on the former chief minister. And now with Kethireddy announcing the film on Lakshmi Parvathi, the story has become all the more spicy.
It is pretty evident that Kethireddy’ film which was titled “Lakshmi’s Veeragrantham” is a sort of flimsy response to Varma’s film “Lakshmi’s NTR,” if one were go by the titles.
If Varma wants to highlight the story of NTR after marrying Lakshmi Parvathi, Kethireddy declared that his story is based on her life before marrying NTR.
Since Lakshmi Parvathi’s first husband’s name is Veeragandham Venkata Subba Rao, a Harikatha artiste, Kethireddy chose the title for his film to reflect his name.
“I want the people to know the other side of Lakshmi Parvathi’s story – how she married Veeragandham, how she was playing harmonium for him, how he got her education up to post graduation, how she ditched him later and trapped NTR when he fell sick,” Kethireddy said.
It is not exactly known who is behind Kethireddy, but there is nothing wrong in assuming that he has the support of the TDP leaders.
“They tried to target Varma to drop the film on NTR with Lakshmi Parvathi focus. Having failed in it, they chose this man to launch a counter film so as to malign LP,” sources said.
