AL Vijay's Thalaivi, biopic on Tamil Nadu's beloved late Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, seems to be much bigger than what was conceived before. The filmmaker is not leaving no stone unturned to bring the best faces on board to play the key roles.
After roping in Kangana Ranaut for the title role of J Jayalithaa and Arvind Swamy for her mentor MG Ramachandran (MGR), AL Vijay has been on a hunt for the perfect artist who would pull of the character of Tollywood legend and former Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh, NT Rama Rao.
Junior NTR Turns Down the Offer
As per the latest rumours, the makers had approached Jr NTR, the grandson of late NT Rama Rao. Unfortunately, the role seems to have not excited him. Telugu media reports that the actor is currently busy with SS Rajamouli's multilingual movie RRR and his focus is only on it.
He doesn't want to act till he wraps up RRR. So, Jr NTR has turned down the offer made by AL Vijay. As a result, the director is now looking for other options.
Nirav Shah Prefers Valimai to Thalaivi
After months of pre-production works, the movie was launched on 11 November. Thalaivi has GV Prakash Kumar's music. Nirav Shah was approached to handle the cinematography, but he could not take up as he had already signed Ajith Kumar's next film Valimai.
Now, Vishal Vittal has been brought on board.
Thalaivi Covers Different Phases of J Jayalalithaa
Thalaivi tries to cover different aspects of J Jayalalithaa's illustrious career in film and politics. "There are four phases of her life — from the age of 16, her 20s, 30s and 40s in the first part. We'll talk about her journey of becoming a superstar, the Tamil film industry, her equation with MGR and M Karunanidhi, the political environment of Tamil Nadu in those days.... If it works, we will make another part just about her political journey," Kangana Ranaut is quoted as saying in an interview with The Times of India.