Megastar Chiranjeevi turns 65 today. Starting his film journey in 1978 with Pranam Khareedu, Chiranjeevi emerged as the biggest star Tollywood has ever seen.
There could be pages written on Chiranjeevi’s contribution to TFI, how he changed the industry, and his legendary box office performance. His path-breaking action and dance sets in the film changed the fabrics of film-making in Tollywood and to date followed and applauded. He is among the group of few South Indian actors who made their recognition felt across the nation, and was said to be the biggest box office star of the country, “bigger than Bachchan” for a brief period in the 90s.
Chiranjeevi in his initial days did supporting and negative roles in the films. His domination as the lead hero started with 1983 Blockbuster Khaidi and then there was no turning back. During the next 10 years, Chiranjeevi starred in 6 Industry Hits, with Gharana Mogudu becoming the biggest South Indian film in 1992. The next few years are considered a bit of a downturn compared to the golden streak he had in the late 80s. There were some misses during the period but the openings remained strong which were tough for others to beat. He came back big giving a huge Blockbuster Choodalani Vundhi in 1998 and then in 2002 released Indra which took his craze to altogether another level which was there till he announced to leave the industry in 2007 for joining politics.
The early 2000s was the period when the release size of his films was as big as the top Bollywood films, showing the sort of initials he commanded. This was also the time, the overseas market was in its infant stages, with the market growing with every next film of Megastar.
He made the comeback to the movies in 2017 with Khaidi No. 150. Most of the stars, including Amitabh Bachchan and NTR, lost their stardom when making a comeback from the break, and his critics expected the same, but the film had a record opening and emerged Non-Baahubali Industry Hit. It was followed by Syeraa Narasimha Reddy in 2019, which emerged as the biggest Non-Baahubali Telugu film. After all these years, Megastar remains the top star of the industry, competing with current generation stars, miles ahead of his contemporaries.
Today, the first look of Megastar’s next film will be revealed. We at Telugu 360 send our regards to Megastar for the day and wishes he continues to amaze us for the years to come.
