Naga Chaitanya joins Dulquer Salmaan’s debut Telugu movie Mahanati

Mahanati, the biopic on legendary actress Savithri is nearing its final stages of shoot. Keerthy Suresh plays the lead role in this movie, which also stars Dulquer Salmaan, Samantha, and ‘Arjun Reddy’ actors Shalini Pandey and Vijay Deverakonda. The cast has just got bigger with the addition of stars Naga Chaitanya and Anushka Shetty.

This Nag Ashwin directorial has Keerthy Suresh as Savitri and Dulquer as late actor Gemini Ganesan. Reportedly, Naga Chaitanya has been signed to play the role of legendary Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR). Earlier, the makers had approached many other senior stars but nothing materialized. It was then reported that they would be recreating ANR’s portions using CG. But now Naga Chaitanya has agreed to do the role and has alloted two days out of his busy schedule for shoot. Anushka Shetty will be playing the role of Bhanumathi, who is hailed as the first woman superstar of Telugu cinema.

Mahanati scripted by Nag Ashwin will showcase both the personal and professional life of Savithri. She was briefly married to Gemini Ganesan and the movie will show some lesser known details about their relationship. Dulquer essays the different phases of Gemini Ganesan in the movie and for that he will be seen sporting multiple looks. Samantha and Vijay Devarakonda will be seen as journalists in the movie. The narrative evolves as the two set out to piece together the story of Savithri’s life.

Mahanati is being produced by Vyjayanthi Movies. The movie is being made as a bilingual in Telugu and Tamil. The Tamil version is titled as ‘Nadigayar Thilagam’. A dubbed version in Malayalam has also been planned.