In an interview regarding the movie Mahanati, Tarak (Jr NTR) said that the makers of the film had approached him with a request to play a cameo of NTR in the film. He had responded stating that he does not have the guts to do it and that he would never consider it in his lifetime.
He had me thinking!
How does someone make a film about a larger than life persona such as Savithri, whose films touched many generations of filmgoers? Can a biopic do justice to the person, amidst the many myths and half-truths?
Director Nag Ashwin tried it and here is what I feel about it.
Nag Ashwin put in his heart and soul into the movie and I must say the whole cast did a wonderful job, except for Dulquer who I felt was a miscast. The story-telling was good, though there was so much more that could have been done, and done differently. At the end of the first half, I felt the movie was going down the proverbial rabbit hole.
In my mind, the true test for this film was going to be how well it transported you into the life and world of Savithri - and in that the first half was somewhat average. It is a lost opportunity that the director focused more on the love story vs. memorable nuggets from Savithri's films and vignettes of her wild popularity. At one point I almost forgot that the love story I was watching was of Savithri and Gemini Ganesan due to too many unnecessary scenes between Keerthy and Dulquer that took away from the cinematic experience. In other words, the love story in the first half could have been any other love story!
Incorporating cameos of famous film personalities of the time viz., KV Reddy, LV Prasad, Chakrapani was brilliantly done. I would give high marks to Nag Ashwin for that.
The second half somewhat redeemed the movie. A huge part of the credit for the second half must go to Keerthy Suresh. She absolutely hit the ball out of the ballpark! But the poor taste in my mouth from the first half lingered on with some missed chances, such as the gajarohana scene, and did not let me enjoy the second half as much as I thought I should have. I read that Savithri's gajarohana was a big event with many luminaries walking in front of the elephant, which could have been a great scene to enhance the characterization.
My summation is that - paraphrasing what Tarak said - it is easy to venture down the path of making a biopic of an icon like Savithri, but to make it memorable, guts alone are not sufficient; you need to have the stuff. Period!
I must say that Nag Ashwin will go places. This is his second film and he demonstrates huge promise. Kudos to him for daring to dream!! My advice to him is to try to venture out of the circle of influence.
Around late 70s, there was a movie called Bhumika by Shyam Benegal which was a biopic of the famous actress Hansa Wadkar. Now, that's the other extreme of how you'd make a biopic. Somewhere in between would have done it for me!!
