Actress’s Loss Turns Perfect For Classic Biopic

Mahanati was a blockbuster and turned out to be a cult classic in the annals of Telugu cinema. Keerthy Suresh became one of the most sought-after actresses and won a National Award for best actress for the film.

Recently producer of the film, Aswini Dutt, shared an interesting anecdote about the film’s casting during a TV show. He said Nag Ashwin had proposed Nithya Menen‘s name to play Savitri. Then Aswini Dutt came to know that she was enquiring if there were any scenes showing the lead actress drinking. She said she would do the film if the script had no drinking scenes.

Aswini Dutt got seriously pissed off and asked the team to remove her from the film. He said, “Who is she to comment on the script and demand changes in the script?”

Later Keerthy Suresh was approached, and then, as they say, the rest is history.

It is unfortunate that Nithya Menen lost out on such a golden opportunity. She is a fantastic actress, and she would have done justice to the role of Savitri.

Though the choice of casting Keerthy for the coveted role received brickbats, after the release of the film, everyone was pleasantly surprised by her performance. The surprise factor also worked out in the film’s favor.