Varanasi Title Row: Small Producer Gives It Up

Even before SS Rajamouli has thought of the title “Varanasi” for his upcoming magnum opus that features Superstar Mahesh Babu, Prithviraj Sukumaran and Priyanka Chopra in the leads, there’s another producer who has registered the same title with Telugu Film Chamber. Since then, Rajamouli’s team is a bit worried, though they went ahead with global promotions. However, things have eased out now.

In fact, a director named Subba Reddy, who makes some small-budget movies in Tollywood, has registered that title way before SS Rajamouli’s producer KL Narayana did it. However, many thought that either Subba Reddy would demand huge money to give up the title, or would take the legal route to restrict Rajamouli from using it. But then, he surprised everyone, as he met KL Narayana, the producer of Varanasi, and handed over the title-ownership papers to him.

Subba Reddy felt that it’s an honour to give the title Varanasi to a film that features his favourite hero Mahesh Babu and is directed by the industry legend SS Rajamouli. Well, earlier when a similar issue turned up with the title “Kathi”, director Gunasekhar didn’t give up, but Kalyan Ram turned his title into “Kalyanram Kathi” and released his film. Glad such things didn’t happen with Varanasi now.