Kangana Ranaut on playing Jayalalitha in Thalaivi: Her story is similar to mine so I put my biopic on back-burner

Kangana Ranaut interacted with the media on her birthday and also spoke about her new project, Thalaivi, a biopic based on late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa. The film will be titled Jaya in Hindi and will likely also star Sai Pallavi and Samuthirakani in prominent roles.

When asked about the biopic, Ranaut told Firstpost, "I am honored to be doing this film. I feel that we do not have a direct relationship with Tamil and Telugu speaking audience, so I would definitely want to have a strong bond all across India. It's my endeavor to connect with that audience with such an empowered role. She [Jayalalithaa] was a big legend there. Her story is very similar to mine, so I put my biopic on the back-burner."

Kangana Ranaut. Image from News 18

She shared that she will begin preparing for her role after she wraps up Ashwini Iyer Tiwari's sports drama Panga. While addressing the media, she said she would learn Tamil, but if she fails then the makers will dub it.

Thalaivi will be directed by Vijay and bankrolled by Vibri Media, also one of the producers of Ranveer Singh's 83. SS Rajamouli’s father, the writer KV Vijayendra Prasad of Baahubali and Bajrangi Bhaijaan will be supervising the screenplay along with Vijay. GV Prakash Kumar has been roped in to compose the songs and original soundtrack.

With inputs from Simran Singh