Mahanati: Dulquer Salmaan wraps up shoot of Savitri biopic; film slated to release in March

Last seen on screen in Bejoy Nambiar’s Solo, Dulquer Salmaan has an exciting lineup of films in his kitty in 2018. This year, he’s making his debut in two industries – Karwaan in Hindi and Mahanati in Telugu. In the Savitri biopic Mahanati, Dulquer plays veteran actor Gemini Ganesan, who was the husband of the legendary actress. The makers on Thursday released a picture of Dulquer as Gemini and announced that he has wrapped up his portion in the film, which stars Keerthy Suresh as Savitri.

.@dulQuer as Gemini Ganesan from #Mahanati. Lovely picture to tease us just enough. #NadigaiyarThilagam pic.twitter.com/KKK8QTockE

— Haricharan Pudipeddi (@pudiharicharan) January 17, 2018

In an earlier chat with Firstpost, Dulquer said he was thrilled to be part of this magnum opus. “There has always been a desire to be part of a period drama. In Malayalam, we don’t have those kinds of budgets. Mahanati is being made on a massive scale, and I’m lucky I was offered this project. I don’t know Telugu but they (the makers) wanted me to give it a shot. It’s a young team; young director, young producer. The intention is to make something special. I have always believed if the intention is right, it’ll be a good film.” He also clarified he wouldn’t look exactly like Gemini in the film, being directed by Nag Ashwin. “As far as my character of Gemini Ganesan goes, I’m not going to look like him. I can’t, honestly, and I don’t want to wear prosthetic. My approach is simple. I would like to be me in the 1950s and play myself if I was a big movie star. I don’t think I should attempt to play Gemini Ganesan, and the director also agreed. You don’t really have any off screen footage of him. You don’t know what kind of person he was off screen. We only know his persona on screen and I can’t use that to play him of screen," said Dulquer. [caption id=“attachment_4308289” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Dulquer Salmaan as Gemini Ganesan (L)[/caption] Director Nag Ashwin feels it’s really brave of a mainstream actor like Dulquer to accept the offer. “It takes a lot of courage for a popular star like Dulquer to agree to play the part. Unlike other stars who think so much about market, time and other factors while signing a role, it’s amazing that Dulquer gives importance to the story and the film more than just his character,” Ashwin had told this writer. On working with Dulquer, Ashwin said: “I still remember the first scene we shot with him. It was a long dialogue sequence and he nailed it in the first take, much to the astonishment of the entire set. Everybody clapped for him.” Produced by Vyjayanthi Movies, Mahanati also stars Samantha Akkineni, Vijay Deverakonda, Shalini Pandey and Rajendra Prasad in pivotal roles. It’s slated for release this March in cinemas.