Mahanati, a biopic on Savitri, initially had good length for legendary actor NTR’s role. Director Nag Ashwin penned good number of scenes on NTR, keeping young tiger Jr NTR in mind. Nag along with his producers Swapna Dutt and Priyanka Dutt tried their best to rope in NTR.
In fact, NTR fans too wished the young tiger should enact his grandfather. The makers waited till last schedule to shoot the scenes. But, much to the disappointment of them and Nandamuri fans, NTR refused to be part of the project saying he was not capable enough to play his grandfather. Then, they removed most of the scenes on NTR and the remaining scenes we had seen on screen were captured through motion capture technology.
Like many Nandamuri family heroes, NTR too waited for a call from Balakrishna, yearning to play at least a small role in the most prestigious project- NTR Biopic. Kalyan Ram is lucky enough to get the opportunity to play his father Harikrishna in the film, but NTR was deserted completely.
Neither NTR was invited for the film’s launching ceremony nor he was offered any role in the film, though there were speculations that NTR will essay young NTR (Sr) in the film. Only relief for NTR was he was invited for audio launch event of NTR biopic which was held recently in Hyderabad.
But, NTR would have felt bad for not being part of prestigious project of Nandamuri family. In fact, NTR’s presence in any role would have delighted Nandamuri fans.