The Boss returns

Back on screen after almost a decade, Chiranjeevi remains Telugu cinema's most charismatic star

Right before the release of Chiranjeevi’s film, Khaidi No 150, on January 11, a construction company in Oman put out this notice for its employees: “On this groundbreaking, festive occasion of [the] 150th movie release of our demigod, movie mogul, king of kings of Telugu film industry, we feel delighted to declare [a] one-day holiday… Boss is back.”

Several other companies in Dubai, Muscat, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, which have staff largely from Andhra Pradesh, also declared a holiday to celebrate the return of Chiranjeevi on the big screen after a gap of almost 10 years. In Andhra Pradesh, the film’s tickets sold out as soon as the counters opened. The police braced itself for chaos and fan frenzy. 

No one was surprised when the film made a whopping Rs 106 crore on the opening weekend — a record that stands second only to that of Baahubali: The Beginning, the highest grossing South Indian film at the global box office. 

At 61, Chiranjeevi remains the undisputed “boss of Telugu cinema” — an unofficial title bestowed on him for belting out success after success. It had all started with Khaidi, the 1983 film that catapulted him to superstardom and which has inspired the title of his latest film, almost as a tribute to his cinematic odyssey. So spectacular has this journey been that in 1992, magazines such as Filmfare, India Today and The Week dubbed him “bigger than Bachchan” for being the country’s highest paid actor at that time. If Amitabh Bachchan’s reported price for a film was Rs 75 lakh and Rajinikanth’s was Rs 1 crore, Chiranjeevi had commanded a staggering Rs 1.25 crore for his film Gharana Mogudu (Rogue Husband). This was an actor who had got a paltry Rs 1,116 for his second film. 

It has not been an easy outing though. Born in a remote coastal village on the banks of the Godavari, Chiranjeevi spent his childhood with his grandparents because his father, a constable, would get transferred often. He would help his grandparents plough their five-acre farm and, in the process, experienced the problems farmers faced firsthand. His parents had named him Konidala Siva Sankara Vara Prasad, but later he adopted the screen name of Chiranjeevi after the family deity, Anjaneya (Hanuman).

In 1977, at the age of 21, he joined the Adyar Film Institute. The young man from a district in West Godavari had no idea that he was about to change the way the Telugu film industry worked. Most top movie stars, producers and directors came from the Krishna delta region, while the actors from the Godavari districts typically played the sidekicks. There had been only two exceptions to this unwritten rule: Harinath and Krishnam Raju — and both of them hadn’t been able to stay at the top for long. 

Enter Chiranjeevi, a rank outsider, a police constable’s son. He did not fit the mould of the Telugu hero cine-goers were used to — neither in looks nor in the way he spoke. He did not have that elitist persona. Instead, he displayed enormous youthful energy through his acting, dancing and fighting scenes.

During his days at the film institute, where he would closely observe his fellow students, many of whom he found to be exceptional actors, he would worry and get anxious. So, he would work doubly hard. He would also watch a lot of movies starring Rajinikanth, who was his senior by five years. There was a time when he felt he would not get a break in the movies because he was not fair skinned. But seeing Rajinikanth inspired him. 

Years later, there would come a time when K Balachander, the legendary Tamil director and mentor to Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, would remark: “Chiranjeevi has both Haasan and Rajinikanth in him. Not only can he do action, he can also act.”

A film maker recalls an incident when Balachander asked Chiranjeevi to do a negative role in his film Idi Katha Kaadu (1979). This would be a Telugu remake of Balachander’s Tamil hit, Avargal (1977), in which Rajinikanth had played that part of a villainous husband. Chiranjeevi was hesitant. How would he ever match a role played by Rajinikanth? But he did not dare upset Balachander.

So, he reached the sets early in the morning even though the shooting was to start in the afternoon. And, he kept practising the scene. But so tense was he that he was unable to give the shot Balachander was looking for. Later, when Balachander stepped out for a while, Chiranjeevi gave the perfect shot in front of the camera. The director, on seeing it, instantly approved it. Balachander then asked Chiranjeevi to see him at his office. A nervous Chiranjeevi, expecting a firing from the film maker, was both relieved and pleasantly surprised when Balachander told him that he had done a good job. The story goes that Chiranjeevi said he was this nervous because Rajnikanth had managed that shot perfectly. Balachander burst out laughing and said: Rajinikanth was giving re-takes till 9 pm; you completed the shot by 7 pm. 

For years, Rajinikanth remained the parameter against which Chiranjeevi measured himself.

The megastar’s dedication to work and his humility is legendary. Once, during the shooting of a film, a sequence required him to dance on a rock. Known for his electric dance movies, he injured himself and started bleeding but insisted on completing the shot.

This is not a one-off incident, says director Tammreddy Bharadwaja. “He once shot a fight scene, in which he was required to be tied upside down with a rope, over 12 hours. We told him we could shoot the scene over a few days but he did not quit or rest till it was complete,” says Bharadwaja. Even without dance masters and fight masters, he is able to pull off complicated dance and fight sequences, he adds. 

Telugu film maker Kodi Ramakrishna says despite his larger-than-life persona, Chiranjeevi has no starry airs. Before every movie, he is like an actor whose first film is releasing — anxious about how the movie will do and concerned about what will happen to the people who have invested in him. “He cares for others, especially the producers, and that is an extraordinary quality,” says Ramakrishna.

In 2008, Chiranjeevi took a break from movies and entered politics. He set up his political party, Praja Rajyam, which later merged with the Congress. Some feel this move eroded his fan base. 

The resounding success of Khaidi No 150, however, belies this view. The “boss” has returned with a bang.