Ram Gopal Varma announces decision to contest Lok Sabha election from Pithapuram, says he is 'super serious'

Ram Gopal Varma

Ahead of the Lok Sabha 2024 elections, filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma has announced his decision to contest for the same. The announcement as the filmmaker said is a 'sudden' one. The announcement comes days before the election dates are set to be announced.

Taking to X (formerly twitter), Ram Gopal Varma tweeted, "Sudden decision. Am happy to inform that I am contesting from Pithapuram." The filmmaker did not share more details.

RGV's announcement came soon after the Telugu Desam Party-Bharatiya Janata Party-Jana Sena Party (JSP) alliance announced that act and JSP chief Pawan Kalyan would be contesting from the Pithapuram seat.

RGV's 'Vyooham' controversy:

Last year, a row erupted over Ram Gopal Varma's film 'Vyooham' based on the politics of Andhra Pradesh. Post the controversy, several local leaders had demanded the expulsion of the filmmaker from the state. The film is said to be about the conditions surrounding the passing of former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and the political entry of his son Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is now the Chief Minister.

The film, which is allegedly defamatory towards former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister and TDP president N. Chandrababu Naidu, was scheduled to release on December 29.

Naidu's son Nara Lokesh had approached the High Court, challenging the censor certificate for the movie.

On December 28, Justice Surepalli Nanda had suspended the release on the ground that the Revising Committee failed to state reasons for granting a Certificate of Exhibition when initially the application had been rejected noting a series of irregularities. The court that no major deletions or the changes were made, the Revising Committee granted the certificate.

The court directed the Central Board of Film Certification, Revising Committee, and producer of the movie to place all records pertaining to the movie before the Court on the next date of hearing. Lokesh had filed a petition in the Telangana High Court challenging certificate for theatrical release of the movie alleging attempts to spoil the image of Chandrababu Naidu in the controversial movie. The TDP leader's counsel had argued that the entire film contained defamatory remarks against Chandrababu Naidu. The film allegedly portrays Naidu as the antagonist and Jagan Mohan Reddy as the protagonist.

On January 2, the film's producer had approached a division bench of the High Court challenging the interim order. His counsel submitted that the filmmaker has suffered loss of crores of rupees due to its release being suspended. However, the court had refused to interfere with the single judge order.