Rani Rudramma Devi, the Kakatiya queen, is a well-known figure of Indian history, particularly in South India. She ruled in the 13th century.
Telugu director Gunasekhar (of Okkadu, Arjun fame) has embarked on the ambitious project of making a 3D stereoscopic film, the country’s first historical on Rudramma Devi.
This period, bi-lingual film made in Telugu and Tamil, has Anushka Shetty playing the historical queen.
The other main characters in the film are played by Rana Daggubati (as Chalukya Veerabhadra), Prakash Raj (Shiva Devaiah – minister and adviser to the queen), and Krishnam Raju (who plays Rudramma’s father Ganapathi Devudu).
Tanikella Bharani, L B Sriram Jaya
Prakash Reddy, Venu Madhav, Krishna Bhagavan, Ajay, Ahuti Prasad, Baba Sehgal, Aditi Chengappa, Hamsa Nandini, Catherine Tresa, Zara Shah and Prabha are among the cast.
For this magnum opus, Gunasekhar has got none other than the National Award winner Thota Tharani to do the art direction, which requires a lot of historical Kakatiya architecture; Tharani had recreated the Madurai Meenakshi temple in a beautiful and realistic set for Gunasekhar’s film Arjun.
Gunasekhar has roped in another maestro, Ilaiyaraja, to compose the music.
Well-known designer Neeta Lulla will be designing the costumes.
In fact Gunasekhar seems to have got the best technicians for Rudramma Devi. Ajayan Vincent is the cinematographer and yet another National Award winner Sreekar Prasad edits the film.
The film is now in the production stage.
