Vijayawada: Well-known filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has completed 30 per cent shooting of ‘Vyooham’ based on the life of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Varma met the Chief Minister at his official residence on Monday. RGV, as the director is popularly known, is understood to have discussed the upcoming project with the Chief Minister for about an hour.
RGV recently unveiled working stills from ‘Vyooham’. Known for his unconventional and bold filmmaking style, he has selected young actor Ajmal Ameer to play the role of Jagan Mohan Reddy. Ajmal had impressed everyone with his performance in ‘Rangam’.
Manasa Radhakrishnan is playing the character of Jagan Mohan Reddy’s wife, Bharati.
RGV, who has made biopics and movies on real life events, is now making a film on the life of Jagan Mohan Reddy. The project reportedly explores both personal and political life of the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader.
‘Vyooham’ will capture the emotional bond Jagan Mohan Reddy had with his father and former United Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy (YSR) and the tumultuous event that followed the tragic death of YSR in a helicopter crash in 2009.
Jagan Mohan Reddy, who staged a revolt against Congress leadership to float YSR Congress, also spent 16 months in jail in a disproportionate assets case. Banking on the legacy of his late father, he emerged as a key political force in Andhra Pradesh.
After narrowly missing power in 2014, Jagan came back strongly to become Chief Minister in 2019 with a landslide victory. ‘Vyooham’ is likely to be released ahead of 2024 elections and thus provide a boost to YSRCP’s poll campaign.
RGV is a big supporter of Jagan Mohan Reddy. The controversial filmmaker often shares his views on social media praising the Chief Minister and targeting Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu.
Ahead of 2019 elections, the director had made ‘Lakshmi’s NTR’ based on a love story between actor politician N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) and his biographer Lakshmi Parvathi. The movie’s focus was also on the “backstabbing” of NTR by his son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu.
For ‘Vyooham’, RGV has roped in an actor to play Chandrababu Naidu’s character. He revealed a couple of pictures of Naidu’s character in the movie.
Earlier, RGV had made a two-part multilingual ‘Raktacharitra’, based on the life of Rayalaseema warlord and former minister Paritala Ravi and his chilling feud with another warlord Gangula Suryanarayana Reddy alias Maddelachervu Suri.
The filmmaker also made ‘Vangaveeti’ , based on the feud between families of Vangaveeti Ranga and Diveneni Nehru Rajasekhar, belonging to two different castes and political parties in Vijayawada.
–IANS