At the eleventh hour, the title of ‘Valmiki’ featuring Varun Tej and Pooja Hegde has been changed. The Boya Valmiki community has been demanding the change of title for a long time but the makers had ignored their agitation. When the issue came before the hearing for the court on Thursday, the makers have realized the grave situation and informed the judge that they would change the title of ‘Valmiki’.
On Thursday late night, director Harish Shankar and producers informed the media that the name has been changed to ‘Gaddhalakonda Ganesh’, the role that Varun Tej is essaying in the film.
Valmiki Boya community has raised objections over the title as sage Valmiki, who had written sacred text Ramayana, is being portrayed as a gangster. Hero Varun Tej is playing the role of a gangster in the movie.
Director Harish Shankar was adamant to change the title and argued that the film is all about how a gangster turns into a good person. Maharshi Valmiki is the epitome of what a changed man can do and this aptly suits our subject, he argued. But now he has relented.
However, this last-minute change of the title will have any effect as all the prints bearing this name had already been shipped and the censor was also done with the ‘Valmiki’ title.
The film releases Friday, Sep 20, 2019.
