Teja, Neelakanta, Sai Sreem and Sriram have all stepped down from their directorial posts. First one to do so was director Teja. When he voluntarily backed out of the NTR biopic starring Balakrishna, the industry was shocked because it was Balakrishna who approached Teja to direct the film based on his father’s life the legendary actor and former Chief Minister of AP. And during the pre-production stage, both were on the same page. Suddenly Teja decided to quit, saying he was overwhelmed by the larger-than-life script of NTR. He also said he was ready to help if needed. However, a source reveals, “Balakrishna felt that the biopic would have a greater reach if it was shot keeping NTR’s image and fans’ expectations in mind, with commercial ingredients such as songs. Teja felt otherwise. He was apprehensive that the biopic would lose its authenticity if there was more of the masala-song-and-dance element and he wouldn’t be able to do the film justice. And so, he quit the project midway.”
Others joke that given Balakrishna’s temper, it’s best that Teja quits now, especially if they are having differences. Or else, Teja could be the next victim of Bala’s ‘slap’.
A relatively new name, director Chandra Siddharth, is now assisting Balakrishna in directing the film. So in effect, it’s Balakrishna who is the De facto director! Another project that has hit a roadblock is the Telugu remake of the Bollywood film Queen. The film’s director, Neelakanta, has exited from the project after shooting a part of the film with lead actress Tamannaah.
Here too “creative differences” with Tamannaah is the reason given. Ironically, it was she who suggested that Neelakanta would be suitable to helm the project. A source says, “After filming one schedule, Tamannaah and Neelakanta felt they were not on the same page and that they had polar approaches to the film. Perhaps the actress wasn’t convinced by the director’s way of shooting, and that prompted the producer to look for a replacement.”
Other sources say the director quit because he was displeased with some changes made by the film’s producer Manu Kumaran to the composition of the unit in an attempt to streamline the execution of the project. Dark clouds loom over Naga Shaurya’s film with director Sai Sreeram as well. The duo was supposed to team up after the success of Chalo, but that project has been put on the back burner. Shaurya’s father said, “Sai Sreeram’s storyline was impressive, but he never gave us the full script, despite getting all the paperwork done. We have been waiting for a long time, but things haven’t improved. The film’s producer, Kona Venkat, has taken the director away to work on another film.”
Director Sriram also quit Ninnu Vadili Nenu Polenule after shooting one schedule, due to creative differences with the producer.
A source informs, “Producer Ramesh Varma did not like Sriram’s style of filmmaking and wasn’t pleased with his directorial vision. He replaced him with Nizar Shafi, who has previously worked as a cinematographer on super hit films such as Bhale Bhale Magadivoy, Nenu Local, and Mahanubhavudu.”
