Mahanayakudu
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''NTR: Mahanayakudu'' () is a 2019 Indian
Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...
-language
biographical film A biographical film or biopic () is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or group of people. Such films show the life of a historical person and the central character's real name is used. They differ from Docudrama, docudrama films ...
, based on the real life and political career of
N. T. Rama Rao Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, film director, film producer, screenwriter, film editor, philanthropist, and politician who served as the Chief Minister o ...
, produced by
Nandamuri Balakrishna Nandamuri Balakrishna (born 10 June 1960), also known as Balayya or NBK, is an Indian actor, film producer, politician and philanthropist known for his works in Telugu cinema. Balakrishna is an elected member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative A ...
,
Sai Korrapati Sai Korrapati is an Indian film producer and distributor who works predominantly in Telugu cinema . Early life and career He is born in Pallapadu. He ventured into Telugu film distribution in 1999 with Seetaramaraju. He owns a theatre Radhik ...
, Vishnu Vardhan Induri under NBK Films,
Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram () is an Indian film production house that produces Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * ...
, Vibri Media banners and directed by
Krish Jagarlamudi Radhakrishna "Krish" Jagarlamudi (born 10 November 1978) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works predominantly in Telugu cinema in addition to Hindi cinema, Hindi and Tamil cinema, Tamil films. He has earned numerous accolades throu ...
. It is the second movie in a two-part series, with the first being '' NTR: Kathanayakudu''. The film stars
Nandamuri Balakrishna Nandamuri Balakrishna (born 10 June 1960), also known as Balayya or NBK, is an Indian actor, film producer, politician and philanthropist known for his works in Telugu cinema. Balakrishna is an elected member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative A ...
,
Vidya Balan Vidya Balan (pronounced ; born 1 January 1979) is an Indian actress. Known for pioneering a change in the portrayal of women in Hindi cinema with her roles in female-led films, she is the recipient of several awards, including a National Fil ...
,
Nandamuri Kalyan Ram Nandamuri Kalyan Ram (born 5 July 1978) is an Indian actor and film producer who works in Telugu cinema. He is the son of actor-politician Nandamuri Harikrishna. Ram is best known for his roles in action films such as ''Athanokkade'', ''Hare Ram ...
,
Rana Daggubati Ramanaidu Daggubati, (; born 14 December 1984) known professionally as Rana Daggubati, is an Indian actor, film producer, and entrepreneur who primarily works in Telugu cinema, in addition to Tamil cinema, Tamil and Hindi cinema, Hindi films. H ...
in the lead roles and its music is composed by M. M. Keeravani.


Plot

The film begins after N. T. Rama Rao announces his party as Telugu Desam. He designs his flag & agenda and wants to tour across the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. So, N. T. Rama Rao orders his son
Nandamuri Harikrishna Nandamuri Harikrishna (2 September 1956 – 29 August 2018) was an Indian politician, actor, and film producer. He served as the Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house the Indian Parliament representing the Indian state of A ...
to repair an old Chevrolet van to use for his campaign, and he names it Chaitanya Ratham. He then starts his journey with Harikrishna as his charioteer, and his son-in-law Daggubati Venkateswara Rao also accompanies him. He struggles hard by traveling all over the state to restore the dignity of the Telugu people and earn their faith and admiration. The centre gets frightened as Andhra Pradesh is a major league to them. So, Prime Minister
Indira Gandhi Indira Priyadarshini Gandhi (Given name, ''née'' Nehru; 19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) was an Indian politician and stateswoman who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India from 1966 to 1977 and again from 1980 un ...
advances the elections and appoints
Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy Kotla Vijaya Bhaskara Reddy (16 August 1920 – 27 September 2001) served as the 9th chief minister of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh in 1983 and then from 1992 to 1994. Reddy was a member of the Indian National Congress and was elected ...
as the new Chief Minister. In that situation, Nadendla Bhaskar Rao prepares the list of candidates who are ex-MPs and MLAs with lousy conduct. Rama Rao denies it and replaces it with new young blood. Thereupon, the Congress party looks down on
Nara Chandrababu Naidu Nara Chandrababu Naidu (; born 20 April 1950), commonly known as CBN, is an Indian politician who is currently serving as the 13th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. He holds the record of longest-serving Chief Minister in the political history ...
as the opponent's son-in-law, yet he contests against his father-in-law's party but loses. In the elections, Rama Rao won with a high majority and became the 10th Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Meanwhile, humiliated Chandrababu Naidu decides to leave politics, but Rama Rao recognizes his calibre and inducts him into the party. From there, Rama Rao toils often and wears saffron to symbolize his initiation. He always puts a check on Bhaskar Rao's dominance by making revolutionary changes in the governance, such as
The Indian rupee sign ⟨₹⟩ is the currency symbol for the Indian rupee (ISO 4217: INR), the official currency of India. Designed by D. Udaya Kumar, it was presented to the public by the Government of India on 15 July 2010, following its ...
2  kg rice for poor people, an equal share to a daughter in father's property, abolishing Patel-Patwari system, creating Mandal system,
Telugu Ganga project The Telugu Ganga project is a joint water supply scheme implemented in India in 1980s by the then Andhra Pradesh chief minister Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao and Tamil Nadu chief minister M. G. Ramachandran, Maruthur Go ...
etc. He also decides to eradicate corruption and does not spare even his own to establish a corrupt-free state. Annoyed by all this, Bhaskar Rao aims to demoralize Rama Rao by making a few of his men go against him, but Rama Rao does not yield. Eventually, Indira Gandhi does not allocate proper funds to the states. When nobody dares to question, Rama Rao stands up to achieve their rights. Self-esteemed Indira Gandhi decided to stop him, for which she appointed
Thakur Ram Lal Thakur Ram Lal (7 July 1929 – 6 July 2002) was an Indian politician and a leader of the Indian National Congress from Himachal Pradesh. Political career Himachal Pradesh He was elected to the Himachal Pradesh Vidhan Sabha from the Jubba ...
as the new state governor. Parallelly, Basavaramatarakam gets diagnosed with cancer and falls terminally ill. Eventually, Rama Rao also suffers from heart problems, so both fly to the US. At that point, Bhaskar Rao makes secret negotiations with Indira Gandhi; with the help of Ramlal, she edicts him to dethrone Rama Rao. The shrewd politician, Chandra Babu Naidu, gazes at his intentions and takes all precautionary measures. Soon after Rama Rao's arrival, Bhaskar Rao submits
Motion of no confidence A motion or vote of no confidence (or the inverse, a motion or vote of confidence) is a motion and corresponding vote thereon in a deliberative assembly (usually a legislative body) as to whether an officer (typically an executive) is deemed fi ...
and fraudulently becomes Chief Minister by backstabbing. Immediately, Rama Rao moves to Raj Bhavan to demonstrate his strength of MLAs. But Ramlal does not relent and gets him arrested. After release, Basavaramatarakam fires up his energy, advocates to gain public support, and promises to hold her breath until his return. Now, Rama Rao relaunches his "Chaitanya Ratham" and mobilizes the support of the people, other Chief Ministers, and anti-Congress political parties. Chandrababu Naidu supports him as a backbone during that plight by safeguarding the MLAs in a secret place to avoid horse-trading. They all decide to land in Delhi with their MLAs to prove their majority. At every level, Indira Gandhi created many obstacles. Still, Rama Rao and Chandrababu successfully crossed the hurdles and met
President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...
Zail Singh Giani Zail Singh (, born Jarnail Singh; 5 May 1916 – 25 December 1994) was an Indian politician from Punjab who served as the president of India from 1982 to 1987 and chief minister of Punjab. He was the first Sikh to become president. B ...
, who mandated to conduct a confidence motion. But Bhaskar Rao cleverly postpones the Assembly sessions and makes all attempts to provoke Rama Rao. During one month, public consciousness increases and people revolt against Congress. So, Indira Gandhi also accepts her defeat, dissolves her support to Bhaskar Rao, and unwillingly replaces
Shankar Dayal Sharma Shankar Dayal Sharma (; 19 August 1918 – 26 December 1999) was an Indian lawyer and politician who served as the President of India from 1992 to 1997. Born in Bhopal, Sharma studied at Agra, Allahabad and Lucknow and received a doctorate i ...
instead of Ramlal. Shankar Dayal Sharma removes Bhaskar Rao and restores Rama Rao as the Chief Minister. Immediately after his swearing-in ceremony, Rama Rao reaches his wife. Finally, the movie ends with Basavaramatarakam peacefully dying in his lap.


Cast


Production


Filming

Balakrishna took a break from the shooting between 30 November 2018 and 4 December to campaign in the
2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election The 2018 Telangana Legislative Assembly election was held on 7 December 2018 which marked the second electoral event since the Telangana movement, state's formation in 2014. Key contenders included the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS), Indian Na ...
for Telugu Desam Party thus causing a delay of about a week in the shooting schedule. By mid-December, about 90% of the shooting was completed.


Post-production

In mid-December, the film's
post-production Post-production, also known simply as post, is part of the process of filmmaking, video production, audio production, and photography. Post-production includes all stages of production occurring after principal photography or recording indivi ...
works have started.


Release

''NTR: Mahanayakudu'' was initially planned to be released on 24 January 2019. Later the date was revised to 26 January, then to 7 February coinciding with the release of ''Yatra'' on 8 February, a biographical film on former Chief Minister of united Andhra Pradesh Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. In January 2019, the crew took a four-day leave to celebrate
Sankranti Sankranti () refers to the transmigration of the sun from one zodiac to another in Indian astronomy. In ''Saurmana'' ''varsha'' (Hindu Solar year), there are twelve Sankrantis corresponding with twelve months of a year. The Sankrantis can be broa ...
festivities causing a delay in shooting, and post-production work that would take about 10–15 days. The filmmakers thus reportedly planned to release the movie on 14 February. Due to ''NTR: Kathanayakudu'' poor performance at the box office, the filmmakers postponed the release of ''NTR: Mahanayakudu'', which was scheduled to be released on 8 February and instead premiered ''NTR: Kathanayakudu'' on
Amazon Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
on 8 February. The makers intended the OTT release to reach a wider audience and act as a marketing stunt for the ''NTR: Mahanayakudu''. Eventually, the movie was released on 22 February.


Critical reception

Suhas Yellapantula of ''
The Times of India ''The Times of India'' (''TOI'') is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by the Times Group. It is the List of newspapers in India by circulation, third-largest newspaper in India by circulation an ...
'' rated 2.5/5 criticised the movie of not meeting expectations of a typical biopic which lacked major parts of the political career of NTR and rather portraying him as a godly-figure as it was in the first part of the biopic. He opined, Balakrishna was more comfortable playing the old-NTR rather than the young-NTR, praised Rana for his acting and criticised Krish of ambiguous shifts in the film's theme between being a romantic story and a dramatic thriller. He concluded, " alling the filma biopic would be a great disservice to NTR’s political journey".


Box office

It was released with mixed expectations – high expectations from trade analysts and low expectations from others – due to the commercial failure of its prequel ''NTR: Kathanayakudu''. The
Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (TDP; ) is an Indian regional political party primarily active in the Federated state, states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by Telugu cinema, Telugu matinée idol N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) on 29 March 1982 a ...
politicians, including
Nandigama Nandigama is a town in NTR district of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a Municipality and also the headquarters of Nandigama mandal in Nandigama revenue division. Geography Nandigama is located 50 km West of Vijayawada and 46&nb ...
MLA
Tangirala Sowmya Tangirala Sowmya (born 12 April 1981), is an Indian politician from Andhra Pradesh. She won the 2014 by election to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly on Telugu Desam Party ticket from Nandigama constituency in the NTR District. She defea ...
, held free shows at various locations in Andhra Pradesh and provided subsidises for the party's workers and used the film as a medium of campaigning for the upcoming
2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election The 2019 Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly election were held in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Andhra Pradesh on 11 April 2019 for constituting the 15th Legislative Assembly (Andhra Pradesh), fifteenth legislative ...
s. In its opening weekend, the film earned worldwide.


Soundtrack

The music is composed by M. M. Keeravani for both the parts. The music released on
Lahari Music Lahari Recording Company is an Indian music company based in Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest cit ...
. The audio and trailer launch of the biopic was held at JRC Convention Center,
Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...
on 21 December 2018. Veteran Telugu stalwarts
Krishna Krishna (; Sanskrit language, Sanskrit: कृष्ण, ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme God (Hinduism), Supreme God in his own right. He is the god of protection, c ...
,
Krishnam Raju Uppalapati Venkata Krishnam Raju (20 January 1940 – 11 September 2022) was an Indian actor and politician. He was known for his works in Telugu cinema and was widely known as "''Rebel Star''" for his rebellious acting style. He was also th ...
,
Mohan Babu Manchu Bhakthavatsalam Naidu, credited and also known as Mohan Babu, is an Indian actor and film producer known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema. An alumnus of the Madras Film Institute, Mohan Babu has acted in more than 500 films ...
,
K. Raghavendra Rao Kovelamudi Raghavendra Rao (born 23 May 1942) is an Indian filmmaker known primarily for his work in Telugu cinema, besides a few Hindi film and Kannada films. Over a career spanning more than four decades, he has directed over a hundred films ...
,
N. T. Rama Rao Jr. Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao Jr. (born 20 May 1983), popularly known as NTR Jr, is an Indian actor, producer, and television presenter who primarily works in Telugu cinema. He is one of the highest-paid actors in Indian cinema and has been featur ...
and others attended the function along with complete Nandamuri family.


References


External links

* {{Krish (director) Films directed by Krish Jagarlamudi Films scored by M. M. Keeravani Films set in Andhra Pradesh 2010s Telugu-language films Films about actors Biographical films about politicians Cultural depictions of Indira Gandhi Cultural depictions of N. T. Rama Rao 2010s biographical films P. V. Narasimha Rao Memorials to Chaudhary Charan Singh Indian biographical films Films about N. Chandrababu Naidu