It is not easy for anyone to remain at the top of their game for almost 45 years. This gets even tougher in the world of cinema where fresh blood arrives every Friday. It is only those who manage to not just survive, but thrive and evolve who can be called masters of their craft. One such master is undoubtedly Megastar Chiranjeevi, who has turned himself into the biggest ambassador of Telugu cinema. While his superstardom has never been in question, Chiranjeevi is that rare star who is an excellent actor too. While the difference might not seem like much without context, the Indian cinema audience definitely understands the nuances of this conversation. In conversation with Rajeev Masand for Aha’s special Fireside Chat at their South Indian Film Festival, Chiranjeevi spoke about how he came to the understanding of the path he has to pursue in his acting career. Should he go for the not-so-commercial cinema that gave him author-backed performances, or the mass masala commercial films that gave him megastardom?
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“I am so lucky that even before finishing my acting course from FTII, I was cast in a film. Before that got released, a legendary filmmaker like K Balachander sir cast me in a film. Then a film with legends like Bapu garu and K Vishwanath garu happened. At such an early stage of my career, I was fortunate to work with some great filmmakers. Simultaneously, I was also honing my skills in entertaining the audience through dancing, action, etc… They loved me more and more,” pointed out Chiranjeevi, who went on to make a rather interesting revealation about the kind of films his heart truly beats for.
“My fans, the masses, they want to see me in action, electrifying dance, etc… However, my heart wanted me to do films with legends like KB sir, Bharathiraja, KV garu and Bapu garu. I was confused,” said Chiranjeevi, who shared his dilemma in detail. “Let’s take the year 1983. Khaidi, which gave me star status, had an intense character, and wonderful dance sequences. The following week, I had Mantri Gari Viyyankudu, directed by Bapu garu. It was a rather mischievous character, and that was a huge success too.”
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In many ways, Chiranjeevi believes that K Balachander’s Rudraveena was an important realisation in his career. “With time passing, I understood that job satisfaction wasn’t as important as producers getting their money back. Take, for instance, Rudraveena (1988). It won the Nargis Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, Best Music Direction for Ilaiyaraaja sir, Best Male Playback Singer for Balu (SP Balasubrahmanyam), and a few State Awards too. I received critical acclaim as an actor too. But, as a producer, it was a big zero. That is a situation I didn’t want. I have responsibility to my producers too. So, I slowly tilted towards commercial films,” pointed out Chiranjeevi, who said his ‘brother SPB’ often asked him to not just focus on action films and do projects like Dangal.
“I told him that I want to do performance-oriented subjects, but producers are not happy. When I do films with an artistic bent, they might watch it once, and like it. But they would never watch it again. But people like to watch my films again and again, and revisit them often. So, commercial cinema was the way to go.”
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