Taking biopics is entirely a different ballgame compared to regular commercial cinema. In fact, Cinema itself is a fictitious world which is also considered to be larger than life. However, biopic is based on a real story which actually happened – in short, a history to itself!
Bringing a part of history into celluloid is not like a regular commercial film and it obviously demands lots of guts. A huge amount of research should be done and also have the courage to showcase the truth as it is. Success, failure, ups ,downs and every aspect of a person’s life should be presented with a clarity of mind. But are our biopics doing the same? – is a million dollar question.
Tollywood has always been somewhat away from biopics. Despite many such experiments being done, the fear continues for a good set of reasons. It is quite difficult to understand a person’s life and recreate their life on silver screen. This fact is well known to our producers and they also get to a conclusion that an accurate biopic becomes a documentary. Though there are films like Andhra Kesari and Alluri Seetharama Raju, they are technically not biopics but films which showcased the important events of a person. The filmmakers weaved an additional story-line based on these incidents thereby giving it a cinematic appeal.
After the stupendous success of Mahanati, the flair for biopics began again. In fact, even Gautamiputra Satakarni is being termed as one. Now, Sye Raa , NTR and Yatra are also getting ready and some more are already in progress. Though Mahanati scored a hit at the Box Office, the critics found some flaws in it. They even said that the film glorified the dark side of Savitri’s personal life and it cannot be even termed as a biopic! Some journalists sarcastically said it is Savitri’s story in Mother Theresa’s backdrop! The makers of Mahanati were empathetic in dealing with Savitri’s life and obviously the audience admired the effort.
Now, Sanju arrived and though it is not a Telugu flick, Sanjay Dutt’s life story and tremendous confidence in Rajkumar Hirani’s work brought much buzz. The audience are showering praises on the film but the critics are not happy. What was the need to showcase Sanju in a glorified light? Was it an attempt to create sympathy on the star by showing all his flaws as good points?- are some of the questions posed by the critics. When and experienced director like Rajkumar Hirani himself attempted to hide the facts and showcase biopic in glorified way, lot of doubts are arising on the upcoming Telugu biopics in line. As of now, the entire focus is falling on NTR which is based on the life and times of the actor turned politician. But many are thinking of only one doubt- “will the episode of Chandababu Naidu thwarting NTR be present in the film?”. The main reason for this is because of Balakrishna’s family bonding with Chandrababu currently and some are even predicting that the episode might be skipped too. Incidents like Viceroy hotel mishap, wedding with Lakshmi Parvati, political game will be carefully showcased in order not to tarnish the image of the star. Promotion has already started that the film begins with NTR’s childhood days and finishes with him becoming the CM. This will obviously mean that Chandrababu Naidu’s role is quite minute. So, NTR’s biopic will have less factual information about the star’s controversial incidents.
The biggest moral of this story is that- we are making biopics but they are factually not. In short, a commercial shade is being given to a person who is known to all. So, even these fall into the category of commercial cinema. A biopic can be fruitful only if both the ups and downs of a personality are showcased. What is the use of tampering a person’s image by showing even crimes like illegal affairs to be a good trait? The main worry of directors and producers to showcase biopic as is because they face pressure from outsiders who are associated with the person. When NTR’s son Balayya himself is essaying his father’s role, can he showcase his Dad’s role with flaws? Can Savitri’s real story come out when it is done under the supervision other family? How can Sanju be a biopic when the film was made with his permission?
The producers are banking on the tremendous craze of these famous personalities on which the films are made on. Currently, only such attempts are going on but an unbiased attempt to showcase a person’s life on silver screen is not happening.
