M S Subbulakshmi’s biopic is set to take off on a pan-Indian scale amid her 110th birth anniversary. Her grandniece Gowri Ramnarayan says any attempt to recreate MS on screen comes with an enormous responsibility.Audiences have long treated the screen as a public square. Here politicians have become film stars, while matinee idols have embraced politics. So when Kollywood turns to real life, it is dealing with subject matter familiar to the audience. Recent hits show what works. ‘Soorarai Pottru’ (2020) was inspired by Captain G R Gopinath’s budget-airline story. But it was rebuilt around a fictional hero and invented characters, so the film could chase emotion rather than accuracy. ‘Jai Bhim’ (2021) drew on a historic case involving custodial violence, argued by a lawyer who later became a high court judge, and it worked because it put the victims at the centre, not the lawyer. ‘Amaran’ (2024) based on Major Mukund Varadarajan’s life, became a major box-office success by pairing a soldier’s story with a human family drama.What makes them workIt’s a story that the audience needs, not just knows. Successful films argue for something: dignity, justice, sacrifice. Their subjects are not just those in the public eye. These films give the audience a reason to care beyond recognition — emotion before chronology. Great biopics resist the urge to cover an entire life. They pick a stretch, a fight or a turning point, and dramatise it. Audiences forgive missing years, not a missing beat.Gowri Ramnarayan, who grew up in the legendary musician MS’s household and travelled with her as a vocalist for 17 years, believes presenting such a layered life, especially through mainstream cinema, poses risks that need to be taken seriously. “MS was a classical carnatic musician. Her story must be presented – not merely as a visual but as an auditory experience. Evolving that crucial element would be daunting,” says Ramnarayan.Kollywood’s star system is an advantage here. A leading man or woman brings a following, and when the casting suits the role, the performance becomes part of the film’s identity. Director Vijay, whose 2021 biopic ‘Thalaivii’ traced the journey of J Jayalalithaa, believes that recreating celebrated personalities on screen goes beyond merely getting their appearance right — it is about capturing their aura.“Making a film on personalities who left an indelible mark is challenging. We know about MGR, Jayalalithaa and their stories. The real challenge is in deciding what to retain, what to drop and, most importantly, how to recreate their aura on screen,” says Vijay.He credits Kangana Ranaut and Arvind Swami for going the extra mile to get under the skin of Jayalalithaa and MGR. “Both gave their best and did justice to the characters. Arvind Swami underwent dental modifications to get closer to MGR’s appearance, while Kangana gained weight for the role. These details mattered because audiences already carried a strong image of these personalities in their minds.”For Vijay, that familiarity makes a biopic particularly demanding. The filmmaker is not introducing a new character but attempting to breathe life into someone whose mannerisms, appearance and public persona remain etched in collective memory.For director Krishnakumar Ramakumar, bringing G D Naidu’s life to the big screen as a biopic meant walking the line between historical accuracy and creative liberty. “Biopics come with their own set of challenges, while offering moments to cherish. After the film’s release, several people from Coimbatore pointed out to me that Naidu shared a close kinship with Periyar, which was only alluded to in the film. At the same time, we took certain liberties while portraying his association with personalities such as M R Radha and N S Krishnan,” he says.What eased the journey was the support of Naidu’s family. “The subject-filmmaker relationship worked well. His relatives helped us navigate the script, and that is invaluable when attempting to capture dimensions of a man such as G D Naidu,” says Krishnakumar.For the filmmaker, the experience reinforced what makes the biopic a particularly demanding genre: not merely recreating a celebrated life, but to distil its vastness into a compelling cinematic narrative without losing the essence of the person. In Tamil Nadu, a life story is rarely neutral. Films about political figures, or about people tied to caste, language or regional pride, face pressure from families, parties and fan clubs. Legal challenges and calls for cuts are a familiar part of the release cycle. The controversy around ‘800’, the Muttiah Muralitharan film, which saw its original lead Vijay Sethupathi step away amid protests, showed how casting itself can become a political question.Real life does not fit a three-hour arc. Every biopic has to decide what to merge, invent or reject, and each choice invites criticism from those who knew the person or the history. There is also the pressure from producers to include commercial elements — songs, action and mass moments. Sometimes these lift a story, at times they pull the film away from its truth.Balancing authenticity with the demands of a star vehicle is a constant negotiation.Getting families to agree, securing life rights and factchecking can slow down projects or reshape them. This is one reason many biopics are labelled ‘inspired by’.Email your feedback with name and address to southpole.toi@timesofindia.comM S Subbulakshmi needs to be understood in the context of the generation that shaped her. She was a Gandhian, and was part of an era fired by the nationalist movement. Far from being disconnected from the world outside music, she was interested in politics and remained an avid newspaper reader all her life. She used her songs to champion reformist causes and believed that India must rise above discrimination. Whether she sang ‘Bhaja Govindam’ or ‘Bismillah Irrahman Irraheem’, you will hear the same note of genuine bhaktiI. It is also important not to conveniently label Subbulakshmi as a “submissive” woman while examining her marriage to T Sadasivam. Yes, he decided what he thought was good for her and she trusted him implicitly. It was Sadasivam who widened her horizons into a larger world and she appreciated his direction.— Gowri Ramnarayan | MS’s Grand NieceThat the biopic reached beyond India came as a pleasant surprise. It did remarkably well internationally, including in Pakistan and several other countries. It was satisfying to see the film find its audience despite being sandwiched between big-ticket releases such as ‘Jana Nayagan’ and ‘Spider-Man’ – Krishnakumar Ramakumar, Director, G D NaiduAt the heart of ‘Mahanati’ (2018) was Keerthy Suresh. Instead of merely imitating Savitri’s appearance and mannerisms, she captured the many shades of the actor; the spirited young woman, the confident superstar, the woman deeply in love and the vulnerable person
