Hyderabad, August 25: Exactly two years after he launched the Praja Rajyam Party with the promise of ushering in a “change” on the political front in Andhra Pradesh, Telugu megastar Chiranjeevi virtually finds himself stuck at a two-way junction. His road to glory — films — is now calling Chiranjeevi back, but he is not in a position to abandon the the track of politics midway.
In recent days, Chiranjeevi, now a member of AP Assembly, has been repeatedly talking about his “first love” (movies) and the “demand from his fans” that he put on the greasepaint once again. It was at the audio release function of Rajinikanth’s Telugu film ‘Robot’ in Hyderabad that Chiranjeevi talked about his itching for doing a movie again.
“When Rajini does a film like Robot, it inspires people like to me to venture into something similar. Moreover, it had been my (unrealised) dream to work with a brilliant director like Shankar. If Shankar says yes, I am ready,” Chiranjeevi had said at that function.
His youngest brother and actor Pavan Kalyan too publicly requested Chiranjeevi to “do one more film” at the earliest.
Chiranjeevi, during a talk show hosted by actress and MP Jayaprada on a Telugu TV channel, did not rule out the possibility of his return to silver screen “sooner or later”. Upcoming actor and Chiranjeevi’s son Ramcharan Tej went a step ahead to announce on August 22 (Chiranjeevi’s birthday) that he would be producing a film with his dad before the end of 2011.
If he does, it would be Chiranjeevi’s 150th film. As the leader faces a difficult situation over his career options his party prepares to hold its first plenary session, coinciding with its second anniversary, in Visakhapatnam on August 25 and 26.
It was on August 26, 2008 that Chiranjeevi launched the PRP in temple town of Tirupati with a lot of fanfare. It did not celebrate its first anniversary last year because of the party’s poor performance in the 2009 general elections.
In fact, the PRP has nothing much to celebrate about in the two years of its existence. The party that entered the political scene in the state as an alternative to both the Congress and the Telugu Desam Party is now increasingly being seen as an “appendix” to the ruling party.
Chiranjeevi has befriended the Congress over the last few months, in the aftermath of former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s death, and is ready to play a saviour just in case the ruling party suffers a split in the fast-changing political scenario in AP. Political observers say Congress sees Chiranjeevi as the only charismatic leader against TDP supremo Chandrababu Naidu in the event of rebellious Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy walking out of the ruling party, and is hence keeping him in good humour.
–Agencies