When veteran actor Chiranjeevi felt humiliated for how South Indian films were disrespected: 'They projected only Hindi cinema as Indian cinema'

With RRR South Indian cinema has been widely recognised and seen but there was a time when the Megastar felt a representation of South cinema was nowhere to be found.

Chiranjeevi, fondly called the Megastar, is indeed one of the most famous Telugu cinema actors to be known at the national and even the international level.

Not just him but his son Global star Ram Charan made it to the International launch of his film RRR receiving Oscars for the song "Naatu Naatu" won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023, marking the first time an Indian film song won an Oscar.

With RRR South Indian cinema has been widely recognised and seen but there was a time when the Megastar felt a representation of South cinema was nowhere to be found. Throwback to when Chiranjeevi felt "humiliated" for the way South Indian films were treated.

During the pre-release event of his movie Acharya Megastar revealed that the greatest humiliation he faced was in Delhi when he felt South Indian cinema was disrespected at an award function.

He stated that in 1988, he was invited to the National Integration Award, or Nargis Dutt Award, for his movie ‘Rudraveena’ directed by K.Balachander in Delhi. He was shocked to see how they had big posters of legendary actors like Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, and Amitabh Bachchan decorated the hall.

He said "We were sipping tea in the hall adorned with posters highlighting the glory of Indian cinema. There were some footnotes for the posters put up on the walls. There were photos of Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna and Dharmendra. They glorified various directors and heroines and we thought they would also talk about South Indian cinema in such great detail.

He continued saying "They described them beautifully (during the event). They praised various directors and heroines. And we thought that they would also talk about South 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, showed his picture and that was it".

He continued stating "For me, it was humiliating. I felt very sad. They projected only Hindi cinema as Indian cinema. And they dismissed other industries such as regional language cinema. They didn't even bother to acknowledge its contribution. It made me so sad. I returned to Chennai and spoke with the media about this incident. The Hindu published a nice article about it. But there was no response to the issue we had raised."

Years later Megastar spoke about today's current scenario of Telugu cinema, especially after films like Bahubali and RRR. He said, "Telugu cinema has risen sky high, and I will attribute it to SS Rajamouli. He has taken over Telugu cinema to the international level. He has brought all films under one roof of Indian cinema".

On the work front, Chiranjeevi will feature in Vishwambhara, a fantasy action film written and directed by Mallidi Vassishta and produced by UV Creations.

Also read: Vijay Deverakonda issues clarification after comments at Retro event have gone viral: 'There was absolutely no intention to hurt...'

The film stars Chiranjeevi, and Trisha Krishnan and will hit the big screens on May,9th,2025. He is also collaborating with Dasara fame director Srikanth Odela for Chiru Odela Cinema.

The movie casts Megastar Chiranjeevi in the main lead role. The film is produced by actor Nani under the Unanimous Productions banner.