Gaddalakonda Ganesh (2019)

Abhilash wants to make a gritty gangster film and, to learn the real thing, he heads to a small town ruled by Gaddalakonda Ganesh, a ruthless, short-tempered don. His secret research is soon discovered, and instead of killing him, Ganesh makes a demand: the film must be made, and Ganesh must play himself as its star. Gaddalakonda Ganesh is the Telugu remake of Karthik Subbaraj's Tamil cult hit Jigarthanda (2014), with Varun Tej in a menacing, rough-edged change of image and Tamil actor Atharvaa in his Telugu debut. Originally titled Valmiki, it was renamed just before release after objections to the title, and Pooja Hegde appears in a 1980s-style flashback song.