ByDeepa Gahlot

September 13, 2019 (IANSlife) Keerthy Suresh deservedly won the Best Actress National Award this year for the Telugu (also released in Tamil) film “Mahanati” (Great Actress) -- Nag Ashwin’s successful and acclaimed biopic of actress Savitri -- that also won the Best Telugu film award.

Savitri was a superstar of the Southern film industry (she did a couple of Hindi films too) with a life full of achievement and tragedy that makes for a gripping film. Her story in “Mahanati” is seen through the eyes of a timid, stuttering journalist Madhurvani (Samantha Akkineni) and photographer Anthony (Vijay Deverakonda). Sent to do a report on the actress lying in coma, Madhurvani, inspired by an old photographer Keshava (Naresh), who knew and worshipped Savitri, starts digging deeper and uncovers not just the highs and lows of her career, but also her great generosity.

Savitri’s immense talent and confidence is captured in an early scene, in which she is shooting and the director wants the actress to shed just two tears from her left eye. The bottle of glycerine is broken, but to the amazement of the film crew, Savitri does the near-impossible shot in one take.

Savitri lost her father when she was just an infant, her mother was taken in by an aunt (Bhanupriya) and uncle (Rajendra Prasad). As a child, she befriends Susheela (Shalini Pandey) and the two act in the theatre. Savitri’s greedy uncle takes her to Madras (now Chennai) to try her luck in films. Nag Ashwin captures with meticulous detail the period and the atmosphere of the studios where Savitri rose to stardom in a highly patriarchal industry.

She falls in love with the married Gemini Ganesan (Dulquer Salmaan) and marries him (his wife Alamelu played by Malvika Nair quietly accepts it), but their relationship is doomed, due to his jealousy and infidelity. From the heights of fame, Savitri falls very hard, into alcoholism, money troubles, ill health and eventually an income tax problem that breaks her spirit. Even when struggling financially, she helps a taxi driver with money for his daughter’s wedding, by pawning an expensive sari. She battles the income tax department because she wants to set up a rehabilitation centre.

The film has footage from her hits, as well as some songs and scenes recreated —all brilliantly shot by Dani Sanchez-Lopez. With dazzling production and costume (a third National Award) design, the film is not just the story of Savitri, but a slice of Tamil and Telugu cinema history.

Madhurvani is inspired by Savitri’s life to take her future into her own hands; she defies her father and proposes to Anthony, whom she loves. In the process, she also loses her stutter.

Cameos in the film include Krish as KV Reddy, Mohan Babu as SV Ranga Rao, Tharun Bhascker as Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, Srinivas Avasarala as LV Prasad, Prakash Raj as A.Chakrapani, Naga Chaitanya as A.Nageshwar Rao, Sandeep Vanga as Vedantam Raghavaiah.  

And above all, Keerthy Suresh shines like a true star, supported by a wonderful Dulquer Salmaan. Both of them had the tough task of playing much-loved screen legends at the risk of offending their fans.

In terms of information the film imparts, there is nothing not already known, but the tribute to Savitri -- who died too young aged 45 -- is presented with genuine admiration and respect.

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Deepa Gahlot is an entertainment columnist

Editing by Parul Soni and N. Lothungbeni Humtsoe