Director Kethireddy has approached Kajol to play Jayalalithaa and Amala Paul for the role of Sasikala in Sasilalithaa, the sixth biopic announced on Jayalalithaa’s life.
The film tells the story of the former CM from the point of view of Sasikala, reports quoted the director as saying. He told Silverscreen that he was looking forward to Kajol’s response. “We have sent the script and I may also meet her in June when I hope to narrate the story in person. Once the person playing Jayalalithaa’s role is finalised, I will approach Amala Paul.” He is currently fine-tuning the script and will make official announcements soon.
He added that his film will be different from the other Jayalalithaa biopics. “Everyone knows about the good sides to her leadership, but there were also downfalls, and my film will look at them.” He is planning to release the movie in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi, and says that he will approach top technicians soon. Research on Jayalalithaa and Sasikala’s lives is currently underway.
Post Jayalalithaa’s death in 2016, five biopics have been announced by Tamil directors. AL Vijay, Priyadarshini, Bharathiraaja and Lingusamy are making films on her life, and Gautham Vasudev Menon is making a web-series. Ram Gopal Varma also announced a biopic focussing on Sasikala’s relationship with Jayalalithaa, but we are yet to hear updates about this.
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Meanwhile, Kethireddy is awaiting the release of Lakshmi’s Veeragrandham, a biopic on NTR’s wife Lakshmi Parvathi. Starring Sri Reddy in the lead, the film is about Lakshmi Parvathi’s marriage with Veeragandham Subbarao, and the problems in her second marriage to NTR.
The biopic was scheduled to release after the elections, but the director says he has been facing political pressure, which is the reason for the delay. “A producer who favours Chandrababu Naidu purchased the film and said he would release it, but we don’t know when. Now that the Government has changed, I’m hoping for a release soon.” He added, “That is a small production, but the film on Jayalalithaa will be bigger and more challenging.”