Vidya Balan to make her Tollywood debut with NTR biopic

Bollywood actor Vidya Balan is all set to make her Telugu debut in actor Nandamuri Balakrishna’s biopic on his father, late actor and former chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (NTR), according to a report in The New Indian Express.

Vidya will essay the role of the first wife of NTR. She will appear as Basavatarakam in the movie, which will be directed by Teja. Balakrishna will step into the shoes of his late father. The report adds that the film will be launched on March 29 at Ramakrishna Studios, Hyderabad.

Work on the film has begun in right earnest. Quoting a source, the report adds, “The team has constructed a huge set to shoot a crucial scene featuring Balakrishna for two days immediately after the launch. Incidentally, the shoot will happen at the same place where NTR filmed the first scene of his mythological film Daana Veera Soora Karna. The launch is likely to be graced by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh chief ministers K Chandrasekhara Rao and Nara Chandrababu Naidu, film stars, ministers, MLAs and other dignitaries from the Telugu states.”

Incidentally, there are three biopics currently being planned on the life of former Andhra Pradesh chief minister and actor. Nandamuri Balakrishna is working on one, in which he is expected to star as his late father. Another one is by director Ram Gopal Varma, which will be narrated from the perspective of NTR’s second wife, Lakshmi and will be called Lakshmi’s NTR. According to a report in Times of India, producer Kethi Reddy Jagdeswara Reddy, head of Telugu Yuvasakthi in Tamil Nadu, too plans to make a film on NTR.

Vidya Balan is not new to biopics, as she had also worked on Silk Smita’s biopic titled Dirty Picture in Hindi. Her inclusion in the cast will be an interesting highlight of the film.