RGV's movie on Vangaveeti faces family's opposition

Filmmaker Ram Gopal Verma’s caste feud movie Vangaveeti, based on the life of Kapu leader Vangaveeti Ranga, will face his family’s ire, if he releases the movie in the present form. Vangaveeti depicts the brutal assassination of Vangaveeti Mohanaranga Rao, alias Ranga, a Kapu leader of the Congress party in Vijayawada in 1988, by assailants hired by Telugu Desam leaders.

On the eve of the launch of the audio, which reportedly has a song Kamma Kapu (the two main castes in coastal Andhra that were at war in the 1980s), Verma met Ranga’s wife Ratnakumari and son Radha in Vijayawada.

The family objected to the song fearing reprisal of caste-based violence in the region, which is simmering with Kapu reservation agitation.  “I’ve told RGV that the scenes in which my father is shown in bad light should be deleted, or we will do what we can,” Radha said.

Later, a disappointed Verma told the media, “I am a movie maker and I have the freedom to make any story that I feel fit to become a hit.” He said that he’ll shoot the film as planned. However, the reference to the caste in the song would be deleted before release.