When the first look of 'Malli Pelli' was out recently, there was this odd suspicion that the film might feature a meta-narrative inspired by the real-life love story of VK Naresh and Pavitra Lokesh. But nobody expected the film's teaser to be so bold and outright meta.

It is bold in the way Naresh takes out his pent-up anger on his onscreen wife (played by Vanitha Vijaykumar) and immediately expresses his desire for the company of his onscreen girlfriend (Pavithra), who is also his real-life sweetheart.

Directed by MS Raju, the film is going to be released in May and those of us who followed the YouTube-powered controversy surrounding VK Naresh, his third wife Ramya Raghupathi, and Pavithra last year will never want to skip the movie in theatres.

Produced by the vintage film banner Vijaya Krishna Movies, the film also features Jayasudha, Sharath Babu, 'Mallesham' actress Ananya Nagella, Annapoorna, Bhadram, and others. Suresh Bobbili is setting the songs to tune, while Arul Dev is composing the background score. MN Bal Reddy's cinematography and Junaid Siddique's editing look good. They are joined by Ananta Sriram, the lyricist.