Chandrababu Naidu's Son vs Ram Gopal Varma Over Film's Political Tones

Nara Lokesh, the son of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N Chandrababu Naidu, has approached the Telangana High Court over alleged attempts to tarnish the image of his father in producer Ram Gopal Varma's film, Vyooham.

In the petition, Mr Lokesh requested the high court to cancel the censor certificate of the crime-thriller film about a police officer's work amid a web of conspiracies, and alleged the film "misrepresented" Mr Naidu to make him "unpopular".

Mr Naidu's fundamental rights were violated by the actions of the director and producer, Mr Lokesh, the national general secretary of the TDP, said in the petition to the high court.

Mr Lokesh alleged the film was made with the backing of Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, adding the film's goal is to damage the reputation of the opposition TDP.

The director and producer have already released many "wrong" films, and they are making this film with Jagan Reddy's support despite knowing there would be losses, Mr Lokesh alleged.

The high court will hear the petition on Tuesday.

Ram Gopal Varma has organised a grand pre-release event for 'Vyooham' at Indira Gandhi Municipal stadium in Vijayawada. He has invited college students and couples to attend the musical event.

RGV, as the controversial filmmaker is popularly known, also invited Mr Lokesh, Mr Naidu and Pawan Kalyan. RGV has claimed a "vyooham", or conspiracy, behind 'Vyooham' the film.

VYOOHAM pre release event is tmrw the 23rd at 5 pm in Vijaywada at Indira Gandhi muncipal stadium
My heartfelt invitation to sri @ncbn , @naralokesh and @PawanKalyan to grace the occasion 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/jabNUkU4HE

— Ram Gopal Varma (@RGVzoomin) December 22, 2023

RGV said he is releasing not just 'Vyooham', but also 'Shapadham' in January.

Before the 2019 election, director Mahi V Raghav, who called himself an admirer of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy, had made a film called 'Yatra' on YSR's 1,500-km padayatra that took him closer to the people and made him Chief Minister in 2004.

Mr Raghav is now making 'Yatra 2', which portrays events from 2009, after YSR's death to 2019.

Malayalam actor Mammooty plays YSR and tamil actor Jiiva plays Jaganmohan Reddy.

Mr Naidu, a former chief minister, had been in jail for over a month after his arrest on September 9 in an alleged multi-crore skill development case. Jagan Reddy has rubbished allegations of political vendetta by the TDP. The Chief Minister has said it was the central agencies that investigated the charges against Mr Naidu.

"Nobody arrested Chandrababu Naidu due to vengeance. I don't have any vengeance against Naidu. I have nothing to do with the arrest. It (arrest) was made when I was not in India," Jagan Reddy told party workers and leaders on October 9.