Rattha Charitram, Rakhta Charitram

Rattha Charitram is biopic political-action-drama written and directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film features Surya Sivakumar and Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi in lead roles. Shatrughan Sinha, Priyamani and Radhika Apte play supporting roles in the film.

Rattha Charitram is a hard hitting film that delves into the faction politics in the Rayalaseema region of Andhra Pradesh. Vivek Oberoi's character named Pratap Ravi is based on the slain Andhra politician Paritala Ravi. A rebel-turned-politician, Ravi was arguably one of the most feared individuals ever in the history of the blood-ridden faction politics of Rayalaseema. His name was linked to a number of criminal cases including multiple murders.

Surya's character in the film is that of Maddelacheruvu Suri who is the prime accused in the murder of Ravi. Suri had sworn revenge against Ravi because Ravi allegedly killed his father and brother. Raththa Charithram tells the phenomenal rise of Ravi and the revenge of Suri.

Shatrughan Sinha plays N. T. Rama Rao in the film. Radhika Apte and Priyamani also have significant roles in the film.

Raththa Charithram is a trilingual feature that is also made in Telugu and in Hindi as Rakhta Charitra. The Hindi and Telugu versions will be released as two films in a gap of one month, as the entire film will run for five hours. However the Tamil version will be concise and packaged as a single film.

Raththa Charithram is produced by Madhu Mantena and Sheetal Vinod Talwar. Tamil journalist Gnanavel has written the dialogues. Music is by Mani Sharma and lyrics are by Na Muthukumar and Kabilan.

Raththa Charithram is expected to be released on December 3, 2010.