M Ramachandra Prasad, President of Padya Kala Parishad, has alleged that the makers of 'Sye Raa' have given a raw deal to Thangirala Venkata Subbarao, the first person to do thorough research on the life and times of the great Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy in the 1960s.

Here is what Prasad has said. "It was my friend and SV University batchmate Thangirala who had done an enormous amount of research and leg work by touring Kurnool and Kadapa districts back in the mid-1960s to learn first-hand about Narasimha Reddy. He wrote a long essay on his findings and discoveries about Narasimha Reddy. It's only after this essay, which was published in a magazine, that the world came to know about the unsung hero. His 1999 book 'Renati Suryachandrulu' threw further light on the legendary freedom fighter. The 600-page book was acclaimed for its original research."

"In the year 2017, one Rammohana Rao (an assistant of director Surender Reddy) and one Balaji (an assistant of Paruchuri Brothers) visited Thangirala and borrowed a copy of his book. When asked if a film was being made on Narasimha Reddy, they lied that a serial would be made. One of them said that they needed it for some research. We later learned that Chiranjeevi garu would be doing a big-budgeted film on Narasimha Reddy. Ram Charan garu has spent Rs 300 Cr on making the film but Thangirala, whose research they used in making the film, hasn't even got Rs 3 worth of importance. They haven't mentioned Thangirala's name anywhere".