Hindi film actress Kangana Ranaut will play former Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa in AL Vijay’s biopic, according to reports.
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.