Chiranjeevi recalls a ‘humiliating’ incident when the South film industry was sidelined at an event

Chiranjeevi has once again proved his dominance on the silver screens with his political thriller, GodFather. Released today, the film is being praised by movie buffs across the country. Meanwhile, refreshing your memory, the megastar received the National Award for his performance in the 1988 film, Rudraveena. Recently, a video of the speech by Acharya actor talking about his visit to the national capital is doing rounds on social media.

Language Barrier

In the clip from an award ceremony, Chiranjeevi got emotional sharing his experience at the National Awards function. The video gained momentum amidst the Bollywood versus South debate.

Rudraveena

Addressing the gathering, the Megastar was quoted saying, “In 1988, I made a movie called Rudraveena with Naga Babu. It received the Nargis Dutt Award For Best Feature Film On National Integration. We went to Delhi to receive the award,”

The award ceremony

Talking about the award ceremony, Chiranjeevi said, “The walls around us were decorated with posters showcasing the grandeur of Indian cinema. There were some brief notes. There were photos of Prithiviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra, and so on. They showed their pictures; they described them beautifully. They praised various directors and heroines. And we thought they would also talk about South Indian cinema in such great detail. But they just showed a still image of MGR (M G Ramachandran) and Jayalalithaa dancing. They described it as South Indian cinema. And Prem Nazir, who played a hero in a record number of films in the history of Indian Cinema, they showed his picture and that was it.”

The Bollywood vs South debate

Then he spoke about some South film fraternity gems including Dr. Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, N T Rama Rao, A Nageswara Rao, and Sivaji Ganesan. He revealed “They were demigods to us. And there were no pictures of them. For me, it was humiliating. I felt very sad. They projected only Hindi cinema as Indian cinema. And they dismissed other industries as regional language cinema. They didn’t even bother to acknowledge its contribution.”

Baahubali and RRR’s pan-India success

Continuing his speech, he talked about the pan-Indian success of Baahubali film series and RRR and what they did for Tollywood. “After so many years, today I feel so proud, I can thump my chest. Our industry proved that we are no longer a regional cinema. Telugu cinema has removed these barriers and becomes part of Indian cinema. Everyone is amazed at our success. We have overcome discrimination. Thanks to Baahubali, Baahubali 2, and RRR,” he said.

This year, Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn and Kannada star Kiccha Sudeep got into a heated argument after the latter pointed out that Hindi is not our national language. Replying to this, Ajay Devgn questioned, if that is the case, why South films are dubbed in Hindi.

Meanwhile, on the work front, after GodFather, Chiranjeevi will lead director Bobby’s untitled drama, Chiru154. Bankrolled by Naveen Yerneni and Y Ravi Shankar under the prestigious banner of Mythri Movie Makers, Rajendra Prasad, and Vennela Kishore have been roped in to play prominent roles in the film, along with Shruti Haasan as the leading lady.

The first look of the film shows Chiranjeevi with a cigarette and lighter in his hand. He is seen donning a trimmed beard, mesh fishnet string vest and gold chains on his neck. As per reports, he will be playing an undercover cop in his next. Now, coming to the technical crew, Rockstar Devi Sri Prasad has composed the music for the movie, and Arthur A Wilson has cranked the camera.

Going by the reports, popular Bollywood actor Nawazuddin Siddiqui will be playing the antagonist in Chiru154. It is believed that Bobby narrated the script to Nawazuddin over a phone call and the actor was quite impressed with the character offered to him. However, nothing has been finalized yet.
In addition to this, Chiranjeevi will also front Meher Ramesh’s directorial Bholaa Shankar. While National Award-winning actress Keerthy Suresh will be seen as his sister in the movie, Tamannaah Bhatia is the leading lady. The film’s cast also includes Raghu Babu, Rao Ramesh, Murali Sharma, Ravi Shankar, Vennela Kishore, Tulasi, Pragathi, Sri Mukhi, Bithiri Sathi, Satya, Getup Srinu, Rashmi Gautam and Uttej among others.

Also Read: GodFather: 12 Tweets you need to read before booking tickets for Chiranjeevi starrer