The biggest biopic of Telugu Cinema is Mahanati, based on the legendary actress, Savitri. She is revered as the best actress ever to grace Telugu Celluloid and the actress had a charming life on screen and complete contrast life off-screen. What drove to become an alcoholic? Why did she die so early? There are many questions that not many know about. So, Nag Ashwin’s biopic about her with Keerthy Suresh as Savitri and Dulquer Salmaan as Gemini Ganeshan has an importance to be truthful to her and also serve as an archive for all the lovers of the actress and future generations.
The director talking about the film said, “We tried to show her life from cradle to death. We wanted to be honest to her memory and I wanted to show her on-screen charm and her off-screen life as well. It became impractical to shoot some ideas like having a montage of 40 iconic songs of her. But we managed to bring in some films and re-create iconic scenes from her films that are highly important.”
He further said, “We had to serve to 110 to 120 characters as the movie needed to address of all that. But the crux is Savitri’s emotional journey and her rockstar self, like how she used to drive fast and have competition with train on her way to studios. Many people don’t know the fun side and emotional turmoil she had to go through. We tried to balance all this out on screen as a honest celebration of a legend.” Mahanati is slated to release on 9th May, 2018.
