Even before the release of the film Ram Gopal Verma's (RGV) Vangaveeti, a film about Congress (I) MLA Mohana Vangaveeti Ranga who was killed in broad daylight allegedly by Devineni family, it faced a lot of heat. In fact there was a court case against the film's release, but it was released on 23 December and Vijayawada was tense. Ranga's son Radhakrishna was among those unhappy about how the film projected the protagonist.
Soon after its release, the film courted yet another controversy — this time from Ayyappa devotees. They have filed a complaint against Varma at Kushaiguda in the city, alleging defamation. Ayyappa devotees S.Kiran Kumar, V.Ashok and V.Vijay have lodged a complaint against RGV for showing Ayyappa devotee as an assassin in the film.
Apparently, a scene shows a rowdy character wearing Ayyappa Mala committing a murder and the trio of devotees say that it was against the ethos of Lord Ayyappa followers. The police call it a non-cognizable offence and the case is yet to be booked.
Many aides of Ranga claim that the movie does not do justice to Mohana Ranga. They say that by projecting him only as a rowdy was objectionable, as it ignores the good work that Ranga had done and they were not happy with the depiction of Ranga's wife. The group claimed that the movie was a mere publicity stunt by Varma.
In fact on the occasion of Ranga's 28th death anniversary, his son Radha Krishna came down hard on RGV’s film and is quoted as saying ,“Vangaveeti is a brand. Because of some film, the value attached to the brand will not come down. He (RGV) has massively disappointed Vangaveeti's followers. The persons who killed my father are roaming around freely. Is he blind to this?”
HISTORY OF POLITICAL TURMOIL IN VIJAYAWADA
Vijayawada was the hotbed of political turmoil at one point of time with gang warfare being the order of the day. In a desire to take over the Vijayawada transport business, two leaders were killed allegedly by Vangaveeti Ranga’s supporters.
While Ranga was a Kapu, the murdered leaders were Kammas, leading to a caste war. Later there was a fight between rival groups headed by the Devineni family and Ranga was once again allegedly involved in the killing of two brothers of the Devineni family.
Ranga was on a hunger strike asking for better protection when his camp was attacked on December 25, 1988 and butchered in the early morning. The Kapu/Kamma caste riots hit the roof throughout the region during this time. More than 40 people were killed and property worth over Rs 100 crore was damaged.
The violence abated when the then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.T. Rama Rao made his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) legislator Devineni 'Nehru' Rajasekhar surrender.
