I maybe a stranger to you but you aren’t and certainly not the Legend who pro created you, I have been a huge fan of your Father, he has inspired me, he has emboldened my views and in many ways been a great role model for me, I have never met him, I don’t intend to meet him as well, I trust my connection with him is stronger that way and the enigma remains as mystic as I always wanted it to be.
I was very glad when I first heard KPC (Konidela Production Company) rolling out #SyeRaaNarasimhaReddy with a huge star cast and Bahubalisque budget, who better than a son to understand the needs of a landmark film and cater to it with perfection, I congratulate you on successfully completing the product in the best way possible and this is conspicuous from the visuals of the songs and trailers it’s evident the technicians and Director have used every penny of yours to majestic effect, Tommorow when we see the film in theatres I’m very sure we all will be swept away with beatitude emotions that only a MEGASTAR can give us and has been giving us for the better part of last quarter century, you sure must have left no stone unturned to get the gigantic project into motion and ensuring every department gets the right resources and monetary support for this project to materialise, So far so good..
Like all big products, #SyeRaa also needed extensive and bull dozed marketing to create ripples across India, since you are releasing the film in 5 languages its a foregone conclusion that you want this film to reach wider audience and pan Indian base, a film which aims to reach pan Indian base needs blitzkrieg marketing and promotions, these days there are many who promote a hollow product as utopian product, with #SyeRaa you probably are sitting on one of the most author backed powerful product to ever come out of Tollywood after Bahubali, yet you seem to care too less to go on aggresive marketing, for starters the PROs hired to promote the film on social media are more interested in upcoming and soon to launch menu’s in famous restaurants in Hyderabad, out of courtesy they post an update like its forced upon them to.. The juke box of this film released 32 hours before the first show of this film screens in Kuwait, this is abominous act, there were no promotions in the North belt via various shows and press meets that usually are associated with the Bollywood market, every thing that was planned happened in last 3 days, who does that.. Who would want to have a solid product in their hand and hide it in their closet? I even paid a visit by spending my own money to Excel Entertainment office and requested them to promote #SyeRaa more aggressively, I’m sure that request must have fallen into deaf ears.
The poor promotions aside, even the advance bookings aren’t opened in majority of cities with top Multiplex partners like PVR or Inox, I understand there are negotiations that happen between a Distributor and Exhibitor over percentage and other issues but these are to be done much before, not 24 hours away from the movie release. It sends out very poor signals to everyone who is excited.
You are acting in #RRR film, I’m sure Rajamouli will make another grand spectacle and I’m also sure he will redefine the marketing blitzkrieg of Bahubali again, is it too much to expect from you even 25% of the efforts that Rajamouli puts on promoting his films?
In many of your speeches I listen to you as how passionate you are about realizing your fathers dream project and everything, where is this passion when it comes to marketing your films, as a Megastarophillic I may enjoy the film and watch it repeatedly which is what matters to me end of the day, but seeing how the world around us is moving in smart way to reach wider base and seeing that we are sitting on a majestic product but unwilling to promote it makes me really cringe, I couldn’t help but write this letter to express my dissapointment with the way this film was marketed or handled in terms of release, I truly wish no major film has to undergo this streak of. Poor promotions , nevertheless I wish you and my Megastar the very best for the film, I truly want him to win the National award for this film, he deserves it and much more.
Pawan Kalyan is now a pretty common name in most households across Twin Telugu states and in some parts of Karnataka & Tamil Nadu, so what makes Pawan Kalyan an enigma that is elusive to comprehension of most yet liked by many ?
I have been an ardent Pawan follower from his debut film, mostly because he happens to come out of the same womb that Megastar Chiranjeevi came out much earlier, but keeping aside his credentials as Chiranjeevi’s youngest brother, Pawan is someone much of youth across Twin states relate to..
Lets think of it from an average youth’s perspective of life today, most of the youth (Post Teenage) want to be part of a family that has no financial burdens, not much interested in academics, more inclinity towards extra curricular activities that may include sports, dance, martial arts, gardening etc most of the youth have radical opinions about the state of affairs in our country today, most of the youth spew venom on indian political system and are most importantly hot blooded, mostly flirting types, prefer multiple partners, influenced by western culture in relationships (live in relations) etc, now let’s superimpose these traits on Pawan’s persona, Pawan matches each and every trait of the common youth’s perception about life, he was indeed into a financially settled family (thanks to Chiru) by the time he leaped out of his teenage, he was hardly interested in academics, he had interest in extra curricular activities like Martial arts, gardening (farming) reading books etc, he had the fire in him about the apathy faced by common man in India, the angst in him is self evident in most of his political speeches where he has a primary agenda that is mostly about the plight of common man in this country, additionally he likes to flirt like most of us, he tends to get tired(bored) or incompatible with girl friends and moves on to other relationships just like most of us, lets accept we all have had multiple love affairs in our life at some point of life before we settled down, essentially PK is just like one of us, his on screen mannerisms and persona has only added to his charisma, since many of us see ourselves in Pawan anf identify ourselves in Pawan, we are connected to him on not just a mental level but psychological level, once you are connected to someone on a psychological level you tend to become his follower or worse fanatic and that ny friends is how I explain the craze amd enigma of Pawan Kalyan the man the actor and the star and finally the Politician.
There are layers of negative traits in all of us and Pawan is no exception, however that part is reserved for another blog post, for today join me in wishing one of the most influential celebrities in Telugu states a great birthday.
Ram Charan’s Yevadu was one of the most anticipated movie of 2013, but unfortunately due to various reasons, it could not release in 2013, finally it has arrived as Sankranti treat today amidst humongous fanfare and hype.
Yevadu tells us the story of Sathya (Allu Arjun) and Deepthi (Kajal Agarwal) who are in love with each other but are forced to elope, during the process of eloping they are caught and Deepthi is killed and Satya is stabbed and left in the burning bus to die, however he is saved and taken to the hospital where Jayasudha is the chief doctor, she decides to save Sathya and since his face is 70% burnt, she decides to give him a new face (Ram Charan), whose face is this ? what is its significance? Will Satya avenge his Girlfriend’s death ? what is the story behind the face Sathya has been transplanted with needs to be seen on the silver screen.
Sankranti is considered the best period for Telugu movie releases as business usually will be at its best with extended holidays all across AP, the makers of Yevadu have waited for many months to release their movie during Sankranti, Boy does this plot work or what, Yevadu has a terrific first 20 minutes, decent 45 minutes and excellent 15 minutes before interval, however its the post interval scenes that infuse soul into the film and takes the movie to another frequency all together.
Second Half of the movie has some of the best confrontation scenes ever seen in Telugu films, excellent BGM coupled with outstanding performances from Charan, Sai Kumar, L.B.Sriram and Jaya Sudha engrosses us into the emotional action drama that unfolds on the screen, Kota’s one lines are brilliantly penned and will go well with the masses.
Choreography for Freedom song is sure to send fans and general audience into frenzy, Pimple song too has good moves, cinematography is adequate, the story has been penned well and most importantly Vamshi has taken enough care to ensure screenplay is racy and entertaining.
Performance wise, Charan has performed well however the limitation of his characterisation doesn’t allow multiple variations, Charan perhaps is the biggest hero in B and C centres in AP and this movie caters to them big time, with dynamic screen presence and dance movies that make you reminiscent of the great Chiranjeevi, Charan has given power packed performance as Sathya and Charan, Amy Jackson is hopeless and has a bleak future in Tollywood, Brahmanandam was routine, Rahul Dev was good as main Protagonist for Sathya, Jaya Sudha gives an excellent performance as Charan’s mother, Shashank and L.Bshriram excel as father-son duo, Shruti Hassan is refreshing, Kajal and Allu Arjun play an important cameo, Sai Kumar as the main Antagonist is terrific, has excellent screen presence and has acted excellently as the powerful Dharma, the brilliance of Director is to have people mesmerized enough to forget Sathya (Allu Arjun) is the main Protagonist in theory.
At the Box office with absolutely no opposition from another Sankranti biggie Nenokkadine, Yevadu will set box office on fire, will set new records at most B and C centres, I’m estimating 60-65c worldwide share for Yevadu in its full run, as an summarizing point I was about to mention Charan should try diverse roles now apart from mass, but with the sort of films he has lined up i feel my point would be redundant.
2013 was a good year for Tollywood, with many hits and one Industry Hit, expectations will naturally be more from 2014 with most top stars having their prestigious projects lined up.
Touted as an action thriller and most expensive film ever made in Telugu film Industry, Nenokkadine was carrying humongous expectations, starring one of the top superstar in industry Mahesh, the film was projected as novel action thriller, yes the film is experimental in nature , specially in an industry where 95% of successful movies are formulaic masala pot boilers.
The film tells you the story of young Gautham who is with his parents in Goa to attend a conference on rice federation and post conference attend a carnival, en route to their hotel back in a bus, two people kill his parents (whose faces are hidden by carnival masks) in front of him and three people seemingly chase him but Gautham manages to escape however he is mentally affected by the incident and starts to develop extreme violent feelings towards the killers, as he grows he develops an integrated personality disorder wherein he assumes to kill multiple times miscreants who killed his parents, due to this disorder he forgets who his parents are or how they look. Whether Gautham is hallucinating about the existence of his parents killers, if so does Gautham manages to realize the true identity of them, why did the miscreants kill Gautham’s parents, how he takes his revenge forms the rest of the film.
Sukumar’s strength has always been script rather than screenplay, at the outset the script of the movie is complex, intelligent screenplay is absolutely essential to explain this script in a meaningful way to audience, this is exactly where Sukumar fails as a director, Telugu and in general Indian audience generically have been born and brought up on stereotyped movies from time immortal, there have been many instances where experimental subjects have been embraced by our audience but those subjects have track record of having exceptional screenplay to get the message across to audience, when you fail to convey your script in a meaningful and entertaining way you fail as a director and there is only so much any star can do to salvage a film without any help from scripts and screenplays with fallacies.
The cinematography is beautiful and there are rich visuals for one to see, one wonders why Sukumar blew 65 – 70 crores to do this film, this movie’s budget should not have crossed 40-45 crores at any cost, neither does the script require any exotic locales nor high amount of VFX, to add to the woes the VFX is poor for the sort of money the producers have pumped into the project, the Yacht explosion, car explosion look mediocre, clearly its evident that the post production has been hurried up to meet the release deadline.
The movie is experimental in nature and Sukumar should have stuck to such, this movie is lengthy by at least 40 minutes, with needless songs, when Sukumar has risked an experimental subject of this magnitude why get in stereotyped formulae of mandatory songs and unnecessary clichés, if one would have to imagine that the budget were restricted to 45 crores and the length of this movie to be around 2 hours with tighter screenplay, this movie could very well have been a path breaking and trend setter, what could have been an exceptional film ends up as an exhausting film due to Sukumar’s mishandling of script and screenplay.
The action episodes are mixed bag, but special mention to that sequence where Mahesh rescues Kriti from the burning Yacht, the chase sequence on London rooftops is not upto mark with a lot left to be desired in terms of graphics, these are minor things that the director and stunts choreographer should have taken care of considering the kind of money that’s involved in this project. the production values of 14 Reels are excellent.
Mahesh Babu is a Superstar and there is no two doubts about it, he has electrifying screen presence, his reducing of weight was not required for the script in any way, nor was his six-pack Abs(which is not shown) required, Mahesh along with NTR and Allu Arjun are three of the best actors we have in Industry in this current generation, Mahesh’s histrionics 15 minutes before the interval are exceptional and they show you why exactly he has the sort of following he commands, not many in industry can match that sort of acting and there was fabulous response for that specific time period, his dialogue delivery is apt for his characterization and his costumes are decent.
Special mention has to be made to Gautham, son of Mahesh who makes a decent début as child artist, his running style matches his father to the T.
Kirti Sanon makes a decent début, she has the looks and talent to go further, Nazar, Kelly Dorji as main antagonists are passable, Pradeep Rawat as the Taxi Driver who helps Mahesh is good, Posani barely manages to make us laugh with his dialogue delivery, Sayaji Shinde and others are strictly ok.
To conclude Nenokkadine is a costly experiment with wrong scientist, limited budget with 2 hours of run time added with tighter screenplay could have paved way for a new genre of films in industry, to conclude in a line the idea was excellent but the execution was poor. 14 Reels and Mahesh must be commended to agree to do such project with diverse script.
At the Box Office, this film has absolutely no chances in B and C centres, at A centres there maybe handful % of audiences that may like this film for its sheer novelty, additionally there is no repeat value for this film due to its lengthy narration ,faulty screenplay and lack of entertainment relief but overall the movie may find it difficult to cross 35-40 crores share worldwide despite Festive season to come by.
27 July 2007, ShankarDada Zindabad released amidst huge fanfare and hype, though the movie did not perform as per expectations at the Box office, nevertheless every Chiranjeevi movie is a festival for crores of his fans and general movie audience, nobody had expected it to be the last movie Chiranjeevi would be doing in a long long time, When Chiranjeevi announced his decision to enter politics and subsequently quit films for a long time in August 2008, the entire film industry & Telugu audience had mixed feelings, on one hand they were gaining a genuine person as politician with honest intentions in the dirty field of politics and on the other they were losing one of the greatest actor of Telugu films and the biggest star to ever shine in Telugu film industry world.
Days passed, weeks rolled by, months skipped on, and years tumbled nobody in the industry could ever replace him either in stature or legacy, such was Chiranjeevi’s dominance and grasp on Telugu films that despite his brother Pawan Kalyan and son Ram Charan being top heroes from same family, people still craved for his presence and wanted him back to do atleast one more movie to complete the magic number of 150 movies.
During Promotion of Budda hoga tera Baap movie, Amitabh Bachchan personally requested Chiranjeevi who had attended the function as Chief guest to do the 150th movie, Chiranjeevi responded by stating he would do on one condition that Amitabh Bachchan would have to do a guest role in the same, the video of the above statement can be seen below
There are many reasons why Chiranjeevi as an actor is missed in industry, when was the last time we saw an undisputed No 1 in any industry for more than 2 and half decades ? When was the last time we saw an star with unparalleled craze as well as actor with impeccable mastery over all forms of cinematic art in same person? When was the last time any hero’s movies were awaited by 6 year to 60 year olds with equal anticipation ? When was the last time silver screen displayed rolling titles as ‘MEGASTAR CHIRANJEEVI‘ ? but the biggest reason why Chiranjeevi was missed so much on silver screen is because of the legacy he has created in hearts of Telugu film loving audience, after Nandamuri Taraka RamaRao there has been no bigger film personality who has influenced and become integral part of Telugu people’s lives as much as Chiranjeevi has, and this is an irrefragable testimony for his perpetual popularity.
The news of Chiranjeevi’s re entry into films has sparked insane levels of ecstasy across crores of his fans and general Telugu movie loving audience alike, just to see once more those rolling titles, those introduction gyrating moves marked with grace, those commanding dialogues, those impeccable action, those impenetrable powerful eyes, those comedy timing, those golden days of mass hysteria are soon going to be a reality.
A true Chiranjeevi fan must be feeling like a lost soul who has just been un-cryogenized from the prison of mediocre world where they were confined to only few shades of acting, there is not a single actor in the industry today who is an genuine all rounder like Chiranjeevi in all forms of acting, fans aside today’s Gen X kids who never saw the craze of Chiranjeevi in movie theatres during hey days of Megastar will have a chance to witness true craze that is if they are truly blessed to earn a first day first show ticket of Chiranjeevi’s 150th film.
These are happy times ahead for us, let us allow the legend to once again entertain, mesmerize, and last but not least inspire us once more.
Chiranjeevi Fans irked by the biased nature of IBN’s article took to social media to let CNN IBN know exactly why IBN is wrong in their article, they used a hashtag titled #ShameOnIBN to trend it on Twitter, the hashtag is trending from more than 12 hours and even continues to do as even as I write this blogpost, Mr Rajdeep Sardesai (Twitter handle – @SardesaiRajdeep) responded to some of Chiranjeevi’s fans and promised to publish the counter article, true to his promise he did ensure the counter response was published in IBN Live, the link can be accessed here http://ibnlive.in.com/news/response-to-ibnlives-article-on-chiranjeevi/431653-62-127.html
The objective of this blogpost is to respond to IBN’s response which they communicated through publishing of my counter article,
CNN IBN’s response- > “CNN-IBN’s DP Satish who wrote the story has responded to the article. Here’s his reply: My article on Chiranjeevi explores just how and why a mega star of the telegu film industry has struggled to make a mark in politics. The article was not meant to disrespect Chiranjeevi who one holds in great esteem but to analyse what has gone wrong in his political career. I did say in the article that Chiranjeevi had 16 MLAs when he had 18. I stand corrected. However, I am disappointed with the response of Chiranjeevi’s fans who are unwilling to allow any free expression and have launched an abusive campaign against me and the IBN network on social media. A journalist has the right to express his opinion in a blog. You can disagree with it, but can’t seek to censor my voice.”
Here is my Reply to CNN IBN and specially to Mr Satish DP (@dpsatishcnnibn)
IBN has responded correcting the total number of MLA seats PRP won in 2009, thanks for that but the larger picture and main emphasis of my initial response to your article was about how a reputed National media channel like CNN IBN could allow a post which is factually incorrect with statements made with no ground reality check on its main website and not BLOG as claimed in CNN IBN’s response above, let me elaborate, in IBN’s article there are sweeping statements which portray Chiranjeevi as an fallen soldier with zero brand value and mass appeal, how did IBN conclude this ? Did they conduct an bare essential superficial random survey ? if so can they share the results ? How could Delhi based media write about the ground reality of streets of Telangana or SeemaAndhra without actually having someone do an simple background check if not an detailed opinion seeking exercise ?
IBN conveniently makes bold sweeping factually incorrect statements like “No one would come to see him if he comes out on streets, his fans associations have closed doors long back, he has zero brand value” etc but refuses to validate them with any sort of groundwork research, if in case they have done such groundwork i request them to present it to us for our perusal, what media houses need to realize in the modern age of social media is nothing can be swept under, gone are the days when mainstream media could influence an average common man’s mind, today social media has become an beacon of hope to exactly differentiate and expose the truth from lies.
Mr Rajdeep tweets that they will not be bullied or apologize for the article, Sire whether your channel apologizes or not, the truth is there for everybody to see, the fans of Chiranjeevi, the general public and all responsible stake holders, i have merely tried to highlight the misconceptions in your author’s assumption about ground reality in AP politics and Chiranjeevi’s role in it, I guess there would have been less outrage or none had your post laced with words like “few” “in some cases” rather than a sweeping statement, yes we agree there is a noticeable percentage of negative vibes on Chiranjeevi for his political decisions and affiliations and we acknowledge it, but to go on to say he has become a big zero is a big joke, some basic groundwork research would have perhaps gone a long way before publishing of your article on Chiranjeevi, also we Chiranjeevi fans are not hindering your democratic and professional right to express your views, we are merely asking you to express the truth after due research rather than writing hearsay or making sweeping statements, as Chiranjeevi’s fans we have utmost respect to freedom of expression and the media’s right to expose the truth but at the same time we want you to acknowledge our right to freedom of expression too in rebutting any false claims or statements that may be made through your act of freedom of expression, I suppose you would agree on this.
Mr Rajdeep also you tweet today 01 Nov at 10.30 am that idol worships is dangerous, I do not agree with you completely, idol worship as long as it helps the worshipper direct his efforts in positive manner is extremely useful and required for our country where the government seems to be non existent, let me give you an example, taking Chiranjeevi’s call for blood and eye donation seriously, fans of Chiranjeevi donate tons of blood annually to Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust (CCT) CCT also has received thousands of pledged eyes from normal public and celebrities alike, CCT has received uncountable number of awards from State and Central government for its path breaking initiative in driving the eye and blood donation drive across various parts of the country, till today there is no track record except perhaps 1 (http://www.rediff.com/movies/2008/jan/28chiru.htm) incident where Chiranjeevi’s fans or followers have indulged in anything dangerous or anti social, if any Chiranjeevi’s fans with his inspiration have been and will continue to participate in innumerable charitable and social works all across India.
I would like to conclude my blogpost by requesting the media to be more methodological and fool proof with their background research before they publish articles on politicians and important citizens with clean image, today the credibility of mainstream and regional media is at all time low, media is supposed to be the fourth pillar of our democracy, we need you to inflict faith and confidence in us to bring the truth out and expose the crooks and thieves, instead publishing articles devoid of factual truth isn’t helping anyone’s cause.
Also I would like to thank Mr Rajdeep Sardesai for responding on Twitter on our fans outrage and posting the counter article, if this outrage were directed to an regional media establishment, we are more than sure that there would be no response what so ever from them, but being main stream media you choose to present both sides of view to the public and for that effort we appreciate you genuinely.
Ps : Sire, in your response today you have spelt Telugu as Telegu, please correct it sir.
Date : Jan 17 1993, time : 6.30 am, 90 minutes left for screening of Mutha Mestri’s first day first show in Bangalore, a serpentine Q extending almost until half a mile, standing at ascending point of the Q was a 10 year old boy with a blow whistle tied around his neck like a pendant who had ventured out to see his first film in his life all alone, braving all sorts of typical Indian Q mentality where body and head massages are complimentary and voluntary. The boy procured tickets and entered the auditorium to experience the first gush of adrenaline rush of his life which today is commonly addressed as “Goosebumps” , the boy’s ecstasy knew no bounds seeing his favourite actor unleash his iconic histrionics on silver screen, ever since the boy grew up looking up to his idol and is today writing this post to share his experiences.
Chiranjeevi who started out as a character artist, villain worked his way through smaller roles to became the Supreme hero and eventually the undisputed King of Telugu Film industry, hailed as the Megastar by his crores of fans, Chiranjeevi has been an iconic legend in taking the culture, art and cinema of Telugu language to global levels.
There have been doyens of legends in Telugu film industry who have contributed immensely in their own way, to name of a few N.T.RamaRao, A. Nageshwarao, S.V.RangaRao, L.V.Prasad, etc but Chiranjeevi’s contribution is arguably considered the greatest and much of it has to do with the sort of reach his contribution could attain both geographically and culturally. The Telugu film industry in most expert’s views is popularly contrasted into ‘Pre-Chiranjeevi era’ and ‘Post Chiranjeevi era’.
Many remember Chiranjeevi for various reasons, but a lesser known fact which i have to specifically highlight today is perhaps he is one of the rarest heroes if not the only one who has acted in all genre of movies that are made in Indian cinema, and this is an achievement which I see no current generation heroes ever attaining and this is testimony to the very fact that elevates Chiranjeevi into a different league from the rest.
Chiranjeevi was perhaps the first hero in Telugu film industry who channelized his fans associations into social work in a big way, he established CCT (Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust) that initially began with blood donation and eventually added eye donations as well, this was at a time when there were chronic shortage of blood donors & organ donors, additionally he has been part of gazillion social welfare activities where he has helped thousands of people in his capacity as a socially responsible citizen. in 2006 he was awarded Padmabushan title from Government of India, the third highest honour for a citizen of this country.
On 26th August 2008 Chiranjeevi after much persuasion from various fans association, well wishers launched PrajRajyam Party amidst humongous fanfare with almost a million fans, well-wishers attending the launch in temple town of Tirupati, the party was launched with intention of providing social justice to all classes of society and emerge as a new alternative to the ruling Congress and TDP, this in my view was one of the biggest defining point post Chiranjeevi’s movie career, in India politics is not a medium to serve people instead its a medium to loot people, Chiranjeevi who had honest intentions to serve people quickly realized the perils of Indian and specially caste ridden AP politics, despite his charisma and crowd pulling ability PRP managed only 18 assembly seats in 2009 assembly elections, a far cry from a minimum majority of 150 odd seats that it aimed for, a lot of factors were attributed to this loss, one of them being the way many opportunistic people misused Chiranjeevi and his brand for their own gains, accusations of corruption in seat selling, negative media attention due to caste orientation , etc but irrespective of reasons what was irreplaceable was the loss the party had suffered, but like a silver lining in every cloud the loss paved way to see once again the very characteristics of Chiranjeevi that attracted me to him from my teenage days.
Chiranjeevi was not a star kid, nor was he from a dominant caste that dictated terms in Telugu film industry but with his hard work and never say die attitude he became the Megastar of Telugu cinema who would go on to rule it for 3 decades, to achieve this a man has to sacrifice a lot in life, face defeats, put in hard work day in day out and have the greatest self confidence that a human being can garner, these very characteristics defined Chiranjeevi and here was a post poll scenario where his party was defeated and with an easy way out for Chiranjeevi to leave politics and come back to his comfort territory that is movies, but Chiranjeevi being the adamant personality that he is decided to continue the fight and treat failure as the first stepping stone to success, maybe I would not have had so much adulation for Chiranjeevi had he given up, but the fact that he continued and carried on in trying to sustain and achieve his goals redefined the iconic traits that we associate with this legend. Its not where you start that defines your success its where you end that defines you.
Today Chiranjeevi has merged his party with a national party with larger interest to serve wider section of people, has done the best job as tourism minister in the entire UPA term of 9 and half years as compared to other tourism ministers and is touted to be the next Chief Ministerial candidate on behalf of Congress party for the upcoming 2014 Assembly elections, today Chiranjeevi is targeted by regional media and various non congress party leaders for the simple sake of publicity, caught between the sensitive issue of whether to support a united state or a divided state, Chiranjeevi has done his best in supporting his stance in a dignified manner and these are signs of the maturity levels he has attained since 5 years as an politician. The very fact that he remains amongst the 1% of untainted scam free ministers in the current UPA government defines Chiranjeevi’s integrity.
Every individual has his share of good or bad deeds in life, some have more good and some more bad, but the Chiranjeevi that I know has tried his best to do good to as many people as possible and this is a trait which humanity as a race needs to adopt as much as possible in todays times, only a person who has observed him from close quarters will be able to tell how pure his heart is, like his brother Pawan Kalyan once famously said and I quote “Chiranjeevi garu eppudu evarni manasulo kuda…aynaku meeru yentaina haani cheyandi…Meeru aynani entaina tithandi…edaina cheyandi…ayne mimalni premistaru premistaru..premistune vuntaru” (The video can be seen below)
Today it saddens me to see many 18-20 year old’s who perhaps were breastfeeding kids during Chiranjeevi’s hey days talk immaturely and abusively about Chiranjeevi, have they forgotten the man’s contribution to art ? have they forgotten the man’s contribution to culture ? have they forgotten the man’s contribution to cinema ? have they forgotten the man’s contribution to society through social service ? There are several people like Chiranjeevi who have contributed to society in the best way they could, the best way to respect it is by following their footsteps and the least we could do is to abstain from talking ill about such people, I’m assuming this is not a big favour to ask of such armchair pundits and genotypically, phenotypically perfect individuals who are ever ready to throw brickbats at you at the drop of hat.
Chiranjeevi’s contribution to society will be written in annals of Telugu History in years to come, as one of the millions of his ardent followers my wish is to see him serve people as long as he can and also consider returning back to mesmerise us once more, just once more that hysteria , just once more that adrenaline rush, just once more on silver screen to read title cards displaying ‘MEGASTAR CHIRANJEEVI’
Megastar Chiranjeevi has inspired millions into becoming socially responsible individuals and I’m just one in those millions of people, I have learnt the value of hard work, patience, perseverance, and confidence from him and for this I will always be indebted to him throughout my life, There are many legends and actors who are like Chiranjeevi but there is only 1 Chiranjeevi and he will remain in our hearts as long as it beats.
I would like to conclude this post by quoting the famous director Balachander “CHIRANJEEVI = RAJNIKANTH + KAMAL HASSAN” If I may add both in Art and Heart too.
Konidala Kalyan Babu popularly known as Pawan Kalyan is the youngest brother of MegaStar Chiranjeevi and one of the Top Movie stars in South India, He made his début in 1996 with Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi and has acted through 19 films in main roles including 2 films in guest role.
Pawan Kalyan (PK) has a huge fan base in Andhra Pradesh and many other parts of the world with sizeable Telugu speaking population, 75% of his fan base are what we call as “Mega Fans” (primary fans of MegaStar Chiranjeevi) and 5% of generic movie lovers and 20% constituting what we call as “Cult Fans”
I will be focussing on these 20% Cult fans in today’s topic and post my views on why their disadvantages outweighs their advantages
Cult fans of PK are unlike any, there are staunch loyal die-hard fans for many actors in Industry but Cult fans are much more than fans they are fanatics. The last well known fanatic ended up assassinating our father of the nation, not equating the act with cults action but merely contrasting the magnitude of madness a fanatics mind can attain.
Cult fans of PK have started and popularized a religiously faithful concept dubbed as ” Pawanism” tag line is (More than a religion), this is sensational when you hear it for the first time because even people like Mother Theresa, Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, MGR, Abdul Kalam, etc who have contributed immensely to this country haven’t been subjected to such adulation, as an Telugu movie fan irrespective of your affection towards any particular actor you tend to be overwhelmed by someone from the fraternity who is in receipt of such adulation, but that’s not the end of the story and how we wish it were,
When you elevate an individual and equate him to divine being, (in this case some cults are just short of calling him “The Supreme Personality of Godhead“) you are subjecting your affection to microscopic scrutiny by general public, symbolically dubbing someone as divine and expressing your feelings are completely different from enforcing belief of your symbolism and implementing it in not just virtual world but also real world, implementing and at times imposing too.
Take this for an example of some real life scenarios, a section of cult fans of PK have designed a logo and also a flag for “Pawanism” and hoisted this flag on Sep 02 (Birthday of PK) and distributed sweets, you don’t see this happening any time except on January 26th and August 15th, curious onlookers who saw this pagan ritual must have almost dialled 101 on their phones, not stopping at that some cult fans are in serious plans to build a temple for Pawan Kalyan, yes you heard it right.. a registered temple for PK.. anyone who questions them faces their wrath laced with the choicest of expletives linking all the females associated in your life,
In online world, sky also isn’t an limit for antics of these cult fans who are ready to abuse you at drop of an hat, harass you by posting your personal details in porn sites, and spam your profile with fake profiles hurling unspeakable words, their madness has reached a stage where one such popular cult fan even went on to an extent to say and i quote “It’s unfortunate that PK is born as Chiranjeevi’s brother, if not he would be bigger than Rajnikant and Amitabh Bachchan“. I’m not just flabbergasted by the stupidity of their statements but also wondering if their IQ levels really are in double digits, it takes an uneducated village folk to tell you Chiranjeevi gave career to PK and has supported him ever since and continues to support until today, keeping these aside they vent their frustration on Chiranjeevi and his son for being more consistent at Box office,.
I do not have a problem with Pk, never had it when he flashed his revolver in public nor when he allegedly entered Simhachalam temple with his shoes nor when he manhandled journalist nor when he kept on marrying and divorcing, i have seen him only as an actor who has done some good work and have supported his good movies, but the issue facing PK’s following is not the kind of craze he has gathered but the kind of people who are desperately trying to spread this craze and the things they are ready to do to ensure this happens irrespective of the means taken or collaterals anticipated.
The biggest nuisance PK cult fans have managed to do is to get into audio functions of Allu Arjun, Ram Charan, etc films and not allowing anyone on stage to speak by continuously interrupting them with “We want PowerStar” chants irrespective of whether Pk is attending that function or not, even if PK is attending a particular function what sort of people who consume edible food interrupt elders speaking on stage repeatedly ? RamaJogayya Shastri who is a prominent lyricist openly reminded these section of cults who were shouting that by doing such stupid acts they are only degrading the name of PK. These antics which cult’s supposedly believe will enhance the craze of Pk have got it all wrong, its damaging PK’s goodwill amongst general film audience more than one can imagine, not so long ago a senior Telugu film hero with more than 30 years of experience was subjected to online jokes and morphed pictures, with the kind of antics cults are indulging in, its not long before Pk becomes a online caricature for butt of jokes..
My humble request to cult fans of Pk is to first define a line between fanism and fanatism, fanism will inspire you, fanatism will destroy you, learn to respect elders and give importance to common sense and rationale, there are many people who love PK for his movies or for his personality, but people should not start hating Pk for the sort of people who idolize him.
I would like to end this post by confessing that this post is not written to mock anyone, it was written with intention to highlight the kind of irreparable damage cult fans of PK are causing to BRAND PK.
The Chronicles of Troll 