WHEN TELUGU SUPERSTAR CHIRANJEEVI WALKED UP TO GOLDIE HAWN, INTRODUCED HIMSELF AS AN ACTOR FROM INDIA AND SOUGHT HER AUTOGRAPH

In the real sense of the term, the Telugu super star Chiranjeevi is indeed a gentleman of the rarest order and a genuine feminist. It so happened that Chiranjeevi was shooting a romantic sequence with Nagma around three decades ago for a Telugu film where he was required to kiss his leading lady during the song which was shot in Ooty - Jyothi Venkatesh

Can you expect any Bollywood star ringing you up when you are covering a location shoot to enquire about your health because he knows you are down with conjunctivitis? Well down South, things are different.

For this is what Chiranjeevi, the mega star of Telugu films did when I was in Ooty recently for the shooting of the film THE GENTLEMAN.

But then Chiranjeevi has always been different from the stereotype Bollywood stars. When lunch break is announced, he does not order Chinese meals at the expense of his producers though they are only too willing to pamper him.

His lunch consists of vegetable soup and sandwiches. His co-stars adore him and his heroines simply love the man. I had spent five days with him at Ooty, observing him closely at work.

After he narrated to me an incident involving Nagma, my respect for the man increased. “I am totally against kissing on the screen”, he said. “If you can manage to shoot a scene with a suggestive kiss, why should you force the poor heroine to kiss you on the lips?

Several years ago, I had a lip to lip kiss with Nagma for the film GHARANA MOGUDU. However, after I packed up and reached my suite in the hotel, I was pretty disturbed. I repented not having put my foot down and refused to do the kissing scene.

Nagma, being a newcomer, must have been afraid to refuse the shot. Anyway, I went back to Chennai because that was the last day of the shooting and the first thing I did was to go to the laboratory and delete the kissing shot even though 30 prints had already been made”.

Till date, Chiranjeevi has acted in as many as 134 films in Telugu, Hindi and Tamil. “If you ask me what I have achieved in the Telugu film industry, I sincerely feel that I have achieved nothing when compared to great actors like N.T Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageshwara Rao”, he says.

Chiranjeevi’s dancing idol was Tariq at one time. He confesses, “When I was in Intermediate College, I used to dance to the tune of Helen’s Piya Tu Ab To Aaja, besides some of Tariq’s numbers from YAADON KI BARAAT. If I have rhythm in my body, it is God’s gift to me. I have never learnt dancing as such.”

Why is he doing only one Hindi film in two years? I ask him. After he made his debut in PRATIBANDH with Juhi Chawla, he only had AAJ KA GOONDA RAAJ with Meenakshi Seshadri.

His third THE GENTLEMAN was a remake of the super duper hit in Tamil and Telugu –GENTLEMAN. “What is important is the fact that I have survived in Hindi films and have not disappeared after giving one or two hits.

I want to go in for quality and not quantity. I do not have to prove myself to anybody. I do not want to sound immodest but it is a fact even if my films flop, my producers are able to make money out of them.”

Chiranjeevi takes it as a challenge to work in the remake of a film, especially when someone else has acted in the original. Arjun had acted in the original version of THE GENTLEMAN.

“Of course, I make it a point to see the original but I do not let it influence my performance in any way”, he explains.

“I just make an attempt to assimilate the original treatment, the presentation of the character and add my own nuances to it with the help of my director. Arjun has done a very good job. His fight scenes are the highlight of GENTLEMAN.”

Why work in a remake? Without batting an eyelid, he quips, “If you can copy a foreign film and pass it off as a desi one, why can’t you copy a Tamil or Telugu hit?

In any case, to the audience, a remake of a Telugu hit is not a remake but an original subject since they seldom saw Telugu films, unless and until it is dubbed and showcased on TV or released as a Pan India film all over India.

But I do not act in the remakes of my own Telugu hits except for AAJ KA GOONDA RAAJ which was the remake of the Telugu hit GANG LEADER”

Till date Chiranjeevi has worked with Telugu director Ravi Raja and Bollywood filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt as far as Hindi films are concerned.

How does he rate them as directors? Pat comes the reply, “Both Ravi Raja and Maheshji do not compromise on anything at all. Both extract what they want from you as artists. However, my vibrations are definitely better with Mahesh Bhatt.”

Once Chiranjeevi starts talking about Bhatt, there’s no stopping him. “He peers into you and extracts work from you by inspiring you.” he gushes. “He goes into your heart and directs you from there. He is like a parent on the sets.

Working with a director like Mahesh Bhatt is like educating oneself. He explains the scene to you and then loosens the reins.

He is wonderful when he is shooting intense dramatic scenes. I have started liking Mahesh Bhatt as a human being too. Some other indefinable relationship has developed between us besides the actor-director one.”

Chiranjeevi is one actor who respects the heroines on the sets. When Juhi Chawla walks up to him, he offers her a chair and chats with her. Otherwise he prefers to sit in a corner and listen to the songs of Telugu films which are to go on the floors shortly to practice his lip synching for the song picturisation.

His make-up man and errand boy do not hover around him all the time. “I am dead against sycophants. I do not understand how there are people who like to get carried away by them” he exclaims.

Sitting on the sets, Chiranjeevi indulges in a bit of nostalgia. “I remember the days when I was a student at the Adyar Acting Institute. Rajnikant was my senior. Nassar, a popular actor down South, was my classmate.

Those were the days when I used to walk down the road leading to the Institute with a Tiffin box in hand. Even now when my Tata Sierra passes through G.N. Shetty Street in Chennai, I become emotional, thinking about those days when I never imagined that I would end up being the most highly paid Telugu actor”.

Chiranjeevi is aware of the fact that superstardom is not forever. “Super stardom is like being the President of the United States of America.

The time limit depends upon how successful you are. You can stretch the period of your superstardom by being aware of the changing trends. If you are successful, there will be a tendency on your part to become arrogant.

But one should not become arrogant because if you do so, though people may put up with you when you are at the top, they will wish you ill in their heart of hearts. Ten years hence, I may not be the same craze but I am sure I will continue to get the same love, affection and respect from cine- goers.”

Chiranjeevi is thrilled that Penguin Books have asked Mahesh Bhatt to write a book on six actors in the Indian film industry and his name figures among them. “I am going to have several sessions with Mahesh to provide him with material for the book”, he says.

Why does Chiranjeevi prefer to concentrate more on Telugu films than Hindi films, I ask him. He answers, “I think I am not in a position to justify doing both Hindi and Telugu films simultaneously. In any case, there are more producers down South who depend on me.

In any case, money is secondary to me when I do a Hindi film. I know I stand to lose what I normally get from Telugu films when I do a Hindi one because I do not command the market which I have in Telugu when it comes to Hindi films.

However, the satisfaction which I get by being exposed to the whole country as an actor when I do Hindi films is definitely what I crave for. It gives me a great kick.”

Chiranjeevi’s dream girl is Goldie Hawn whose films he confesses he sees again and again. “It was a big day for me when I went to the Oscar awards function in 1989 because I walked up to Goldie Hawn, introduced myself as an actor from India and sought her autograph.

It is my pride even today. I think that it was for the first and the last time that I have asked anyone for his or her autograph”, he says.

Chiranjeevi is dead against doing negative roles in films. “I had turned down several offers to play negative roles in Telugu films, including the offer to play the role of Sanjay Dutt in Khalnayak”, he says.

“As a trend setter, whose every movie, every action is aped by youngsters today; I do not want to play negative roles. As a star with a massive following I should be careful of every move of mine.

I have even cut down on my smoking and do not touch alcohol at all. Occasionally I do indulge in a glass of wine or champagne but that’s all.”

Chiranjeevi has a rare hobby of collecting the audio cassettes of lullabies of not only his son and daughter but also his relative’s kids.

”I am also shooting the kids in their various moods to preserve them for posterity”, he smiles. ”I want to present these audio and video cassettes as a token of my love and affection to my kids when they grow up and get married.”