AP High Court stays release of NTR movie

The Andhra Pradesh High court on Thursday stayed the release of Ramgopal Verma’s own version of Telugu Desam Party founder N T Rama Rao‘s biopic Lakshmi’s NTR scheduled for release in Andhra Pradesh on Friday. However, the movie will release as per schedule all over the country and overseas along with sibling state of Telangana. Telangana High Court has already cleared the movie for release in the state.

The Court, however, said that the bench will see the movie on 3 April at 4 pm at the Judges Chambers before deciding whether the movie can be released in the poll-bound state or not. Andhra Pradesh is going for elections on 11 April. The orders came three days after the Election Commission (EC) and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) gave the green signal for the release.

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders have filed a petition at the Mangalagiri Civil Court arguing that the movie was with an ulterior motive of tarnishing the image of TDP chief Nara Chandrababu Naidu and not faithful the real-life events of NTR. The Mangalagiri court stayed the release of the movie. However Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy the counsel for the petitions moved High Court. “In the case Padmavathi the court made it clear that any movie cleared by the Censor Board is fit for release, “Reddy said.