Khaidi No 150: After 10 years, Chiranjeevi talks about cinema and a bit of politics

While there was a lot of apprehension among the fans about the Megastar choosing a Tamil film remake as his comeback vehicle, the actor thinks otherwise. “I hunted for a good story for one year. But because of the heavy expectations built on my comeback film, I wanted a more challenging script and role. So, I felt a responsibility to bring out a story with a social message along with some commercial elements. I wanted a social message like Stalin and Tagore to make the story complete. Then I came across Tamil film Kaththi that had all the elements. So I felt this script would work,” said the star confidently.

Showing his confidence in the script, Chiru also recalled how Tagore, his blockbuster hit with the same director V V Vinayak, which was a remake of Tamil film Ramanaa, turned out to be super hit because of the sheer importance of the subject. Tagore was based on fight against corruption.

The actor further elucidated why he picked A R Murugadoss-directed and Vijay-starrer Kaththi for his re-entry. “Though this story is presented in a commercial framework, it is based on the current scenario in the whole country: the alarming issue of farmer’s suicide. Even some statics used in the story are very factual and accurate too. We would also bring these issues to government’s notice if possible,” Chiranjeevi explained, with an evident political undertone.

However, the actor says a couple of scenes and songs were tweaked to suit the Telugu audience. He also mentioned that an entire comedy track, featuring Brahmanandam and Ali, was added.

The Mega legacy is built on fights and dances. While the former can be assured in Chiru’s film, the actor said the audience will get a glimpse of a new step which is as good as Veena step of Indra and Sixer step of Tagore. “I didn’t practice my moves at all in the last 10 years. But I promise that there would be another new step in this film. Choreographer Lawrence, in fact, repeated the Veena step with minor changes,” he added.

Chiranjeevi has at least two projects in hand this year. While his acting career is important, the actor emphasised that he would never lose sight of his political future too and shared that he had never taken a guilt trip wondering if changing lanes was a mistake. “I have no regrets in going into politics or leaving the Tollywood for a while. Now, the scenario is different. There is currently a political vacuum so I can’t do much now. But I assure, the door to politics is never closed. Whatever medium is necessary to reach the masses, I will take that. Be it cinema or politics. Only time would decide which medium is needed when,” Chiru said speaking to indianexpress.com.

Chiru took a break from Tollywood to jump into politics after his film Shankar Dada Zindabad in 2007. Chiranjeevi formed his political party Praja Rajyam in 2008 and soon merged it with Congress. He also served as MoS for Tourism. After the loss of Congress in the following elections, he became an MP in the Rajya Sabha.

With Khaidi No 150 set to release in a couple of days, only the film will definitely decide how the actor can stand tall and would deepen his roots in the new tide of Tollywood films and numbers.