The following are excerpts from a recent interview of Chiranjeevi that was published on the eve of his 50th birthday.




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After Tagore, audience are expecting a larger than life characters from you.

That is infact true. And it is quite natural. After a big hit, the expectations on the upcoming venture will accrue. But this responsibility narrows down the scope of subjects. That is why stars usually take shelter with action and emotion guarantee paying elements for their films. Keeping the same in mind, I did Shankar Dada MBBS that had action and entertainment. Andarivadu also falls into the same league. Govindarajulu character did well with the audience. However, the other supporting characters are not well conceived and the film did not see big success. I had to evaluate myself after Andarivadu. I realized that it is time for one more character that is responsible towards the society. In this context, Murugudas (story concept for Tagore) narrated a script and it aptly fits this gap. Anjana Productions Nagababu will produce this film with B.Madhu (Tagore's producer) as executive producer. Paruchuri Brothers will pen the dialogues. This will be a message oriented one.




In terms of image and fan following, you are really a big boss and Andarivadu. But the titles failed you at the boxoffice

Thats why I sensed a danger even with Jai Chiranjeeva title. As per the story, Jai Chiranjeeva is a socio-fantasy film. It is a social subject with a little bit of crime element. Director Vijaya Bhaskar, producer Aswini Dutt and the fans also supported this title. I was still skeptical about the title somewhere in my mind. The reason for my skepticism is the misuse of Bigboss and Andarivadu titles. Andarivadu is not as disastrous as Bigboss though. Now I want to clarify one thing. My role in Jai Chiranjeeva is Satyanarayana Murthy. Since this character is a strong devotee of lord Hanuman, the title is apt. The title Jai Chiranjeeva is related to lord Hanuman.



There is a recent rumour that you do high budget for outside banner like Tagore, Indra, Shankar Dada and when it comes to Gita Arts, you go for soft films which can be done within the four walls of Hyderabad. For eg: Mechanic alludu, Daddy, Master, Andarivadu

Allu Aravind and I think the same. He knows my thoughts. Other producers expect a full fledged mass and action film. Such mass films give me lot of mental stress. For a change, I like to do simple, soft and plain film. That will be relaxing for me. Allu Aravind is one of my producers who like to make films like comedy entertainers and relaxing films. You know, he wont think of the payback when he makes such films. That is the reason but not to compromise on the budget. Infact, Andarivadu is the high budgeted film among my movies till date. However, for some reason, that richness was missing on the screen




When is your son - Ramcharan Teja - expected to make an entry

He is still young. I see a 2 more years for his entry. He will spend the next 2 years in gaining the knowledge and skills required for his entry.



When is your big move into politics

Media pulled me into politics about 10 years ago and it still continues to associate me with politics. So technically I am in paper politics for the last 10 years. I am bored of telling the media "No politics please". I wonder when media will get bored of posing that question to me.



Multistarrers are usually avoided for ego problems. With your brother Pawan Kalyan you wont have it. Why not do a multi-starrer with him

Ego problems arise not between Chiranjeevi and Pawan Kalyan but between the characters and that will surely arise. He is my brother alright, but he is a very popular star too. When two such stars appear on the screen, importance to the characters should be distributed equally. Characterization will take the beating if one of the character overtakes the other. For example, though I did both the characters in Andarivadu, audience felt that Govindarajulu character overtook the son's character. So, to do a multi-starrer, be it with Pawan Kalyan or someone else, there should be a proper script. If we find the right story, we will do it.