Director Ram Gopal Varma’s Lakshmi’s NTR is in the middle of controversy after Andhra Pradesh High Court ordered stay on its release until April 15 as the film’s content is resonating with the election heat. However, the film has hit the screens as scheduled in Telangana and USA on Friday and you have a fair idea what to expect from this RGV and Agasthya Manju directorial.
Starring P Vijay Kumar, Yagna Shetty and Sritej, the film is the third biopic about Nandamuri Taraka Ramarao (NTR), the legendary actor and the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, releasing this year.
While the two other biopics – NTR Kathanayakudu and NTR Mahanayakudu starring Balakrishna depicted NTR’s film and political sojourn, the third part is all about how his son-in-law and incumbent Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister ganged up with his brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law and staged a coup against the actor-turned-politician by causing a split in the Telugu Desam Party. In a way, the film’s content has raised several questions as the story remained an enigma until now.
Lakshmi Parvathi (Yagna Shetty), who grew up idolising NTR (P Vijay Kumar) volunteers to write his biography. Impressed with her literary abilities, he readily agrees to her idea and the duo keep meeting regularly to talk about the book.
NTR, who was living in a lonely loft battling depression after the demise of his wife, believes that Lakshmi will fill the void in his life and approaches her with a marriage proposal. Lakshmi, who is already married to Veeragandham Subbarao, an oral storyteller and has a child, was in a quandary, but decides to separate from her husband and agrees to marry NTR.
Their marriage news doesn’t go down too well with NTR’s son-in-law Chandrababu Naidu (Sritej) and he urges NTR to give it a second thought for the sake of the party.
However, NTR is persistent about getting married and keeps his family members at bay. Naidu blames Lakshmi as a potential heir to the party and executes a plan to reduce NTR to nobody with the help of his family members, a media baron and the MLAs. What follows is the events that led to the political coup at Viceroy hotel in August 1995 in Hyderabad causing mental trauma to NTR that finally led to his demise.
While we have seen the two biopics of NTR that delve into various facets of his personality, Lakshmi’s NTR has a story waiting to be told from a different perspective and RGV has presented it in his own style. Stories like this ring hollow and pretentious if not done intensive and extensive research. It seems RGV has done a quantum of research to make the film an engrossing saga loaded with emotions and passions.
Although the film has an interesting premise, the first hour seems lightweight as the director takes his own sweet time to establish the characters, build chemistry between the lead pair and cripples it with a slow pace.
The second hour, though becomes something else as RGV presents the viceroy coup with Chandrababu Naidu as the backstabber, who runs a faction to oust NTR from power.
The penultimate 30-40 minutes looked like a hurried hotch-potch of scenes stitched together by sequences which had no interrelation with each other. Sample this, Chandrababu says NTR kept him away from party affairs and hasn’t been on talking terms for insulting Lakshmi Parvathi with his words. But, that’s not the case. The climax seems stretched out with a lot of melodrama.
With a broad spectrum of emotions, ranging from a powerful leader to a victim of circumstances, Vijay Kumar impresses with his power-packed and nuanced performance as NTR. He looks so natural and acts with great ease. The other noticeable character is Lakshmi Parvathi, played by Yagna Shetty. She acts with all heart, especially in the second hour as she breaks down while reading an article in a newspaper about her alleged influence in NTR’s decisions and projecting her as his potential successor.
The film is powered by Sritej’s calibrated performance and he breathes life, and fire, into the character of Chandrababu Naidu. Overall, Lakshmi’s NTR traverses the unexplored events that happened in the life of NTR. Despite its sluggish pace, the film makes for an interesting watch.
— Murali Krishna CH
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