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Addled Andhra

Telugu cinema harkens back to the Stone Age of filmmaking when directors baulk at the idea of ruffling a few political feathers

Nandamuri Balakrishna and Vidya Balan play lead roles in NTR: Kathanayakudu
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Nandamuri Balakrishna and Vidya Balan play lead roles in NTR: Kathanayakudu

J Jagannath
As someone who has been spending the past few months in Andhra Pradesh, I’m amazed at the number of biopics being cranked out on famous Telugu politicians. What more, the release of these propagandist movies coincides with the elections that were held this Friday.

Both the big parties in the fray, the ruling TDP and Opposition YSR Congress, have been behind these slickly produced biopics on N T Rama Rao and Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, respectively. A two-part biopic on NTR, with his son Balakrishna in the titular role, proved to be a cropper at the box office despite a stellar