Chiranjeevi recalls feeling insulted on seeing South actors sidelined at event: ‘Only north Indian actors…’

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Actor Chiranjeevi recollected an incident from years ago while underlining how far south Indian cinema has come. On the most recent episode of Fireside Chat on Aha, he spoke about how he felt ‘furious and insulted’ while attending a film festival in Goa in the ‘90s. Here’s what he said.

‘I felt so bad’

Chiranjeevi believes that south cinema gets more respect today than it did in the past when Bollywood was synonymous with Indian cinema. He said, “I remember being invited to a film festival in Goa. I sat down for high tea and saw posters of all the famous north Indian actors on display. The only south Indian actors whose posters were put up were Rajkumar, MGR and two others. I felt so bad because where are NTR, ANR, Sivaji Ganesan?”

He added that it made him believe ‘they didn’t care’ about the south film industries, revealing that he acted in some Hindi films after out of ‘vengeance’. “South is a film industry with potential, but they didn't care about us, only Bollywood was Indian according to them. I was furious and insulted. I acted in films like Pratibandh and Aaj Ka Goonda Raaj out of vengeance to show we have potential. But now the whole world is looking up to us, thanks to directors like SS Rajamouli, Prashanth Neel, Sukumar, Rishab Shetty, Atlee, and Lokesh Kanagaraj.”

In the same chat, Chiranjeevi revealed that while his ‘heart prefers classy movies,’ he acts in commercial movies out of obligation to producers. He revealed that while Rudraveena won him awards, it made no money. “My job satisfaction cannot be more important than producer revenue,” he said.

Upcoming work

Chiranjeevi took a break from cinema after 2007’s Shankar Dada Zindabad to enter politics. He formed the Praja Rajyam Party in 2008, but it was dissolved in 2011. In 2017, he returned to cinema with his 150th film, Khaidi No 150. Since then, he has acted in Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, Acharya, Godfather, Waltair Veerayya and Bholaa Shankar.

He is now shooting for Vishwambhara with director Vassishta. The film also stars Trisha, Kunal Kapoor, Meenakshi Chaudhary, and Ashika Ranganath in lead roles. Shooting commenced in January this year, and it’s scheduled for release on January 10 next year.