Hindi film actress Kangana Ranaut will play former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in AL Vijay’s biopic, reports Scroll.in.
The film will be made in Tamil and Hindi as Thalaivi and Jaya respectively. The screenplay is by KV Vijayendra Prasad (“Baahubali,” “Manikarnika: The Queen of Jhansi”).
“Jayalalithaa ji is one of the biggest female success stories of this century. She was a superstar and went on to become an iconic politician... I am honoured to be a part of this mega project,” Ranaut said.
Vijay, whose credits include “Madrasapattinam” (2010) and “Thalaivaa” (2013), assured that the film would be made with “utmost care and honesty.”
Jayalalithaa, a six-term Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, died of a cardiac arrest on December 5, 2016. Between 1961 and 1980, she starred in 140 films in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. She appeared in a number of successful films with MG Ramachandran in the 1960s, including “Aayirathil Oruvan,” “Chandhrodhayam,” “Major Chandrakanth” and “Arasa Kattalai.”
The bilingual will be produced by Vibri & Karma Media and Entertainment. Tamil filmmaker A Priyadhaarshini is also working on a biopic on the politician titled The Iron Lady, featuring Nithya Menen in the lead role.