Vasishta N Simha’s Telugu debut as hero, Nayeem Diaries, to release on December 10

In less than a fortnight, Vasishta N Simha will make his debut as hero in Telugu cinema. The actor, who forayed into the industry with a role in the Venkatesh-starrer Narappa, turns protagonist with a rather controversial subject. The film, Nayeem Diaries, is a biopic on the life of slain Naxalite Mohammed Nayeemuddin, a supposedly circumstantial criminal, who, after years as a Naxalite, allegedly turned police informer, only to be later killed in an encounter.

According to media reports, circumstances leading to Nayeem’s death are suspicious and point to the involvement of powers that be. The film, we hear, will explore Nayeem’s life from childhood to death, with focus on his years as a Naxal and anti-Naxal.

Watch the trailer here: 

In an earlier interview with OTTplay about taking on this controversial character, Vasishta had said, “ “When I was approached the film, I had no idea about Nayeem, but started researching about him thereafter. As per the narration, one thing that struck me is that Nayeem was a prime example of being victim of circumstances and how you respond to the situations that occur in your life. Nayeem was a vibrant, young, family-oriented guy, who was also a little hot-headed, and, hence, got introduced to the Naxal movement as potential leadership material. The Naxal movement was so strong back then that maybe half of Andhra Pradesh was sympathizers. Over the years, Nayeem became a top brass Naxal leader; even killing a cop who was a nightmare for their movement and then going to jail. Strangely, Nayeem comes out as an anti-Naxalite and all these incidents are the highlights of the film. When I got the narration, I must admit that I sympathized with Nayeem; no doubt, he was a notorious criminal who has killed, say, 800-900 people and was a kingpin for the land mafia. Except for those who suffered because of him, most people heard about Nayeem only after he died,” he explains.

Shot as a Telugu-Kannada bilingual, the film will release in Kannada as Gangster.