Power Star Trailer Talk: Ram Gopal Varma’s Alleged Satire On Telugu Actor-Politician Pawan Kalyan

The trailer for Power Star was to be launched on a pay-per-view basis (₹25) on Ram Gopal Varma's app and website, RGV World Theater. But since then, it has leaked online, and Varma decided to launch the high-resolution trailer on YouTube. 

This film looks like a satire on Pawan Kalyan. The main character is named Prawan Kalyan (Pawan Kalyan's fans are incensed) mourning the loss of the Mana Sena Party during an election. The actor playing it also has strikingly similar features to Pawan Kalyan. 

The Telugu actor Pawan Kalyan, popularly called 'Power Star' had founded the Jana Sena political party in 2014. He, however, only decided to contest during the 2019 general elections in Andhra Pradesh, aligning with the BSP and the Left, and embarrassingly lost both the assembly seats he contested, both being bastions of his caste. 

In the trailer we see portraits of Che Guevara alluding to his alliance with the Left, his Russian wife (only her bottom is seen, draped in a checked cotton sari, her face incognito), and his satirized hand gestures, passing his hands over his hair in comic abandon. He is also seen slapping his speech writer, and the thin line between what is satire and what is bad acting melts. This is not Varma's first foray into political quicksand. His previous film Lakshmi's NTR on NT Rama Rao's relationship with his second wife Lakshmi Parvathi was also cause for much controversy for vilifying Chandrababu Naidu into caricature. 

Power Star will premiere on RGVWorldTheatre.com on 25th July. The pre-booking for the movie is priced at ₹150. However, after the film's release, it will be priced at ₹250.