Andhra’s political fight, on a celluloid battlefield

The battle for political supremacy in Andhra Pradesh extends beyond the elections, with four films being released that revolve around regional politics.

The battle for political supremacy in Andhra Pradesh is not being fought at the hustings alone, but also in a parallel arena: the silver screen.

Yatra 2 follows the life of Jagan Mohan Reddy. (HT Photo)

In less than three months, the state will simultaneously hold two crucial elections, to its 25 Lok Sabha seats and 175 assembly constituencies, which has turned it into a beehive of activity — from chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy and principal opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu making trips to Delhi to presumably stitch up an alliance with the BJP, to Reddy’s sister Sharmila now battling her brother as the new Congress president, and a bunch of disgruntled leaders switching parties.

Amid all this activity, four films have been made in Andhra Pradesh that have regional politics at their centre. Three have protagonists that mirror the story of YSRCP president and chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, two of which Vyooham (strategy) and Sapatham (vow)have been made by established director Ram Gopal Varma. The third film, Yatra 2, has been made by director Mahi Raghava.

The fourth, Rajdhani Files, directed by Bhanu Shankar and set for release on February 15,highlights the issues of farmers of Amaravati, once posited by the TDP as the sole capital of Andhra Pradesh, a promise the party has reiterated in its campaign.

Raghava’s Yatra 2 was released in over 400 theatres across Andhra Pradesh on Thursday and saw Tamil star Jeeva play the role of Jagan Mohan Reddy, with Malayali superstar Mammootty playing the role of his late father and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Rajasekhar Reddy.

“The film will appeal to the cadres of YSRCP, if not the common viewers, because it depicts the ups and downs in the life of Jagan, right from the day of his father’s death till he undertakes a marathon 3,000km padayatra that ultimately catapulted him to power,” said Venkat Arikatla, chief editor of popular film portal greatandhra.com.

Films with clear political themes being released just before the state elections are not unusual in Andhra Pradesh. TDP MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna made NTR: Kathanayakudu, a biopic based on the life of his father and TDP founder NT Rama Rao. The film was released on January 9, 2019, right before the assembly elections.

Yatra 2 is a sequel to Yatra, made by Raghava before the 2019 elections.

“While Yatra 1 was made on the life of late YSR and the struggles in his rise to the position of chief minister of unified Andhra Pradesh, Yatra 2 begins with the death of YSR and narrates how Jagan carries the legacy of his father, braving several setbacks including being in jail for 16 months for defying the Congress high command and his defeat in the 2014 elections before finally realising the dream of coming to power,” Arikatla said.

Political analyst Ramesh Kandula says such biopics have little influence on the electorate. “There is no such precedent, at least in Andhra Pradesh, in which the films have influenced the minds of voters so that they changed the outcome of the elections,” he said.

The reason, according to Kandula, is that most of these films were not high-quality in production values as well as subject. “Their main objective is to highlight a particular party or a political leader and run down the opponent. So, such films appeal only to the targeted audiences, that is leaders and cadres of that particular political party, rather than general audiences,” he said. “It is like preaching to the converts.”

The Telugu film industry has a turnover of over ₹2,500 crore, according to a CII report from 2022-23. “But the political biopics have hardly earned any revenue at the box office. Even Yatra 2, I am told, has failed to generate enough footfall in the first three days,” Kandula said.

Reached for a comment, the40-year-old Raghava denied that Yatra 2 was made to explicitly promote the YSRCP.

“It is an out-and-out commercial film and has all the elements of a family drama. It is almost a Lion King kind of story, where the son carries the legacy of his father after the latter’s death and overcomes hurdles that present themselves before him in life,” Bhargava said.

Asked why he chose to release the film ahead of the assembly elections, Raghava said every movie has an apt time for release if it is aimed to be a commercial hit.

“Such films cannot be released for Pongal or Dussehra,” he said.

Varma’s film Vyooham — also based on the life of Jagan Mohan Reddy — is up for release on February 23, after a court battle. “We, Vyooham, are coming on 23rd Feb to drink #TDP and eat @JanaSenaParty,” Varma announced on X on Friday.

The film was originally meant to hit the screens in January, but its censor certificate was suspended by the Andhra Pradesh high court on January 22, following a petition by TDP general secretary, and Chandrababu Naidu’s son, Nara Lokesh, alleging that it portrayed the lives of TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, Lokesh, as well as Jana Sena Party chief and actor Pawan Kalyan, incorrectly.

Varma filed a review petition in the high court immediately, with the matter heard by chief justice Alok Aradhe and justice J Anil Kumar. On Thursday, the bench directed the Central Board of Film Certification to re-examine the issue, and decide on giving clearance, which the board did on Friday after some cuts.

“Unlike Yatra 2, Varma’s film focuses not only on Jagan’s life, but also on opposition leaders, particularly Naidu and Lokesh. One has to wait and see how it is received by the audience, ” Arikatla said.

Another noted Telugu film critic Allani Sridhar said biopics like Yatra 2 or Vyooham are seasonal and have no long-term impact. “They are like political pamphlets of the parties, appealing to only their cadres. Obviously, they cannot influence the people’s choice,” he said.

Varma has also simultaneously made Sapatham, said to be a sequel to Vyooham, announcing that it would be ready for release on March 1.

“Sapatham is said to be based on how Jagan implemented his welfare agenda and catered to the poorer sections of society,” a person involved in the making of the film said.

Rajdhani Files, up for release on February 16, captures the travails of the capital Amaravati.

Amaravati capital region, located between Vijayawada and Guntur, was visualised to be developed as the world class capital city of Andhra Pradesh by the previous TDP government headed by N Chandrababu Naidu. More than 24,000 farmers from 29 villages of the area gave away their fertile land for the capital city under land pooling system.

However, after YSRCP led by Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power in 2019, it dumped the Amaravati capital project and proposed to create three capitals for the state — administrative capital at Visakhapatnam, judicial capital at Kurnool and only legislative capital at Amaravati.

The farmers moved the high court, challenging this decision, and won the case in March 2022. The issue is presently in the Supreme Court. The farmers recently completed 1,500 days of their agitation to retain the capital city at Amaravati.

“Going by the trailer, the film seeks to highlight the agitation of farmers of the Amaravati capital region and depicts their struggles to fight against the government, which is planning to establish three capital cities in place of Amaravati,” Arikatla said.

TeluguOne.com, a popular Telugu political and entertainment news website, which is the promoter of the film, said in a statement on February 5,“The interesting part of the film is that about 600 real farmers of Amaravati and many of their children have acted in it.”