Chiranjeevi criticised for ‘Dancing with Girl’ comment at Telangana Summit; Internet questions his choice of words

Chiranjeevi critisised

The motive behind the Telangana Rising Global Summit in Hyderabad was to highlight the international collaborations, investment, and innovation.

Yet, in an unexpected twist, it was Chiranjeevi’s light-hearted anecdote on stage—not the big announcements—that ended up sparking conversation online.

Invited as a special guest by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, the veteran actor joined an eminent lineup that included NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Bery and business leader Anand Mahindra. But a single remark during his speech soon became the centre of debate.

Chiranjeevi opened by acknowledging, with both humour and honesty, that he felt slightly out of place among leaders from very different fields.

“You may feel that every other chief guest present here belongs to fields such as finance, automobile, or politics. You might feel like, what is a film star like Chiranjeevi doing here? Not just you, even I feel that way,” he said, drawing a few smiles from the audience.

He then recounted how personally and persistently the Chief Minister’s team had invited him. “Do you know what position I was in when they came to invite me? Evaro ammai to dance chestu unnanu Annapurna Studios lo (I was dancing with some girl at Annapurna Studios). I felt very awkward. I had to ask them to stop shooting for a while.” What he meant as a light anecdote, however, was received quite differently online.

Soon after, social media users began questioning why he chose to describe the moment that way, especially at a global summit attended by diplomats, policymakers, and business leaders.

One user wrote, “He has completely lost his senses. Bringing up a ‘girl’ topic was totally unnecessary here. He could have simply said he was in a shooting.” Another criticised the lack of care in his phrasing: “At some point of time we should stop inviting celebrities who cannot have control on words to this kind of submit.”

Despite the online chatter, Chiranjeevi remains busy professionally. After his 2023 releases Waltair Veerayya and Bhola Shankar, he now has Vishwambhara, Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu, and an untitled Srikanth Odela project in the pipeline.