It’s commendable for Dulquer and Keerthy Suresh to take up a movie like Mahanati: Prakash Raj

Mahanati, the upcoming biopic on legendary actress Savitri, is one of the most awaited movies in Telugu cinema this year. Nag Ashwin is directing the movie which has Keerthy Suresh playing the yesteryear actress. Dulquer Salmaan, Samantha, Vijay Devarakonda, Naga Chaitanya, Rajendra Prasad, Mohan Babu, Shalini Pandey and Prakash Raj are also part of the cast.

Dulquer Salmaan, who is making his Telugu debut, is playing Gemini Ganesan while Naga Chaitanya plays his real-life grand father Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR) in the movie. Prakash Raj is essaying the role of popular Telugu cinema producer Chakrapani. Samantha and Vijay Devarakonda will be seen as journalists in the movie.

In a recent interview to TOI, Prakash Raj was asked about his experience working with youngsters like Dulquer and Keerthy. He is quoted saying, “Mahanati is an interesting biopic; a good assessment, at this point of time, of the magic and mystery of who Savitri was. I like actors who are trying to metamorphosis themselves, trying to get to know what cinema was back then, the thought processes of the people, what relationships meant then, what their personal choices were and the roles they played. It’s commendable for actors like Dulquer and Keerthy to take up these roles.”

Mahanati will trace Savitri’s life from the 1940s to 1980s and will feature those films she has acted with NT Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageshwara Rao and other legends from the Telugu and Tamil film industry. Savitri was briefly married to Gemini Ganesan and the movie will show some lesser known details about their relationship.

Since Savitri was hugely popular in all the southern film industries, the makers have planned the movie as a multilingual. The Tamil version is titled as ‘Nadigayar Thilagam’. A dubbed version in Malayalam is also in the planning. The movie produced by Vyjayanthi Movies is slated to hit screens worldwide on May 9.