Usually, it is said that the trend of biopics was started by Bollywood. But the south Indian pride Mani Ratnam already started it with his fantastic flick Iruvar which featured the real time lives of two powerful politicians of Tamil Nadu then- MGR and Karunanidhi. Irrespective of its commercial success, the film is a masterpiece. It definitely joins the list of all the greatest films done by him. But after Iruvar, nobody took the daring step to keep this trend going. It was however Mani Ratnam again who made Guru in 2007 based on the life of industrialist Dhirubhai Ambani. After many years of its release, Bollywood started showing interest in making biopics based on popular personalities in the country.Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Dirty Picture, Mary Kom, Dhoni, Azhar, Dangal and Neerja fall in this category.
But the credit of showin the taste of biopics in Tollywood goes to Nag Ashwin. He showcased the life of Savitri in such perfection with his attempt in Mahanati this year. He also brought back the confidence that Tollywood will embrace an experimental genre like biopics. After the success of Mahanati, many movies were announced as biopics such as NTR, YSR,Lakshmi Parvati, Chandabrabu, Ghantasala ,Kantha Rao, Sobhan Babu,Pullela Gopichand and many more. However, no news on who exactly is working on this films is yet to be known fully.
Out of these, there are great expectations on NTR and YSR biopics. But the sad part is, other films are almost being in the dark. Except for using the names of popular personalities, there is no big groundwork happening for them. If any of these films fail at the Box Office, it will severely impact other films in this genre. Instead of choosing regional specific Telugu personalities, if Indian level personalities are chosen, there is a better chance of admiration at a national level. When Dangal was dubbed in Telugu , based on a north Indian wrestler Geetha Pholgat, it was admired. The same applies to Bhaag Mikha Bhag and Dhoni as well. It would be wise for Tollywood filmmakers to think on these lines and make a step.
