Thalaivi vs The Iron Lady: Nithya Menon opens up on competing with Kangana Ranaut

Nithya Menon, who is teaming up with filmmaker Priyadarshini for The Iron Lady, says that she is not competing with Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut in doing a biopic on late actress J Jayalalithaa.

Actress-turned-politician Jayalalithaa was one of the most powerful women leaders of India. She breathed her last on December 5, 2016, after the hospitalisation of 75 days. The mystery surrounding her death became a great subject with many filmmakers announcing to do multiple biopics on the life of former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu. A lot has been debated on these biographical films.

Through several announced to do a biopic on her life, only two of them, which are titled Thalaivi and The Iron Lady, are in the pipeline as of now and Kangana Ranaut and Nithya Menon are playing leads in them. A lot is spoken and written about whether the movies will do justice Jayalalithaa's life and legacy. The speculations are also being made about the competition between these actresses.

Nithya Menon denies competing

But Nithya Menon denies competing with the Bollywood actress. "We are not competing with others including Kangana Ranaut, who are working on Jayalalithaa's biopic. We don't want to make this film to meet a deadline. I'm quite confident about what Priyadarshini wants to do and she has access to details and information that others might not know," Nithya was quoted telling in a recent interview.

"Both of us studied in Bangalore before we got into films. But more than that, I think what connects both of us even more is the way we speak, our mannerisms, and habits, and how we are so particular about several minute things. When I saw her interviews, I think I understood her from an emotional standpoint and that's something we are going to explore in the film as well," added Nithya Menon.

Thalaivi starring Kangana Ranaut is written and directed by AL Vijay. The Iron Lady starring Nithya Menon, is written and directed by Priyadarshini. Nithya says that her version of Jayalalithaa's story will be quite different from what others are making. Both films are expected to go on floors soon.