NTR: Kathanayakudu, the first installment, chronicling NTR’s rise in cinema, was released in theaters on 9 January 2019. NTR: Mahanayakudu (Second Part), chronicling his rise in politics, was released on 22 February 2019. The former was a flop, while the latter was a mega disaster.
Director Krish Jagarlamudi feels that the movies were released when the political mood was not conducive. In 2019, the TDP's political fortunes were fading. A few months later, the party was trounced in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections.
Krish, speaking to a senior film critic in an interview, stated that the films would have surely minted hundreds of crores had they hit the cinemas in 2024. He meant to say that the TDP's soaring stocks would have ensured Box-Office success.
One could argue that the truth lies somewhere in between. The NTR biopics felt flat because there were no narrative surprises to be had due to the clear demarcation between his political and cinema careers. Had it been a one-part biopic, a non-linear narrative interspersing the two facets of NTR would have given rise to narrational unpredictability and drama.
