No better story than a true one. ‘Mahanati’ is one such film

Ahead of the release of ‘Mahanati’ on May 9, director Nag Ashwin says that the film is a celebration of Savitri’s life.  ”There is no better story to tell than a true story,” he adds.  

To be released as ‘Nadigaiyar Thilagam’ in Tamil, the film sees Keerthy Suresh playing Savitri.  ”We want people to appreciate her professional talent and being a beautiful mother and a family person, about her association with people who were part of her life from childhood to her passing away,” the makers say. 

Says producer Priyanka Dutt of Swapna Cinema, “For us the important thing was as a film-maker, the best we can do is get things right.  Life is big and laden with troubles, awful and wonderful. It was indeed a massive task for us and in this film, we have done our best to distill Savitri’s life story into two hours of quality entertainment.”

Initially, critics were skeptical about Keerthy’s ability to play Savitri.  ”There were so many instances on the film’s sets that made not just me but many others believe that Keerthy had mannerisms that strike a lot of similarity with Savitri’s,” says Nag Ashwin.  

The yesteryear actress was a multi-faceted personality.  ”Savitri had immense, diverse talent, a director, playback singer, producer and someone who loved car racing. As a race car driver, she won trophies. There are so many such beautiful facets of this actor.  She deserves to be reminisced today,” she says.  

Dulquer Salmaan plays the role of Gemini Ganesan in this biopic.  Samantha Akkineni, NagaChaitanya, Vijay Devarakonda also play important role in the film along with other celebrated actors like Mohan Babu and Prakash Raj from the southern film industry.