Mega star Chiranjeevi, who ruled the Telugu silver screen for nearly three decades like a colossus, turns 57 on August 22, 2011. 

From making an appearance as Chiranjeevi the actor in his first film Punadirallu in 1978 to stepping into the shoes of a Chiranjeevi the politician in 2008, much water has flowed under the bridge and the actor has certainly carved a niche for himself among his contemporaries to become a towering personality of the Tollywood.  

Aptly and affectionately called Chiru by cine-goers and fans,   the mega star is a hundred per cent self-made man who has attained his present status by sheer hard work and self discipline.  

The mega star, who was worshipped by his fans almost like a demi-god across the length and breadth of his film career, took birth as Konidala Siva Sankara Vara Prasad at Mogalturu of West Godavari district in AP on August 22, 1955 to the modest and middle class family couple, Konidela Anjana Devi and Konidela Venkat Rao.  

After graduating in commerce from the CSR Sarma College in Ongole, the undercurrents of a would-be actor hiding in the young Vara Prasad took him to Chennai where he learnt the nuances of acting at the Madras Film Institute.  

Though his first acted movie was Punadirallu, his first released film was Pranam Khareedu which hit the Telugu screens in 1978. 

Then he became one of the Mana Voori Pandavulu followed by his word I love you to assert himself as an actor in Idi Khata Kaadu. The rest is history as you know very well.  

Conscious of his acting talents 

The proud words of Oscar Wilde “I put all my genius into my life and I put only talent into my works” find a reverberating echo in the life of Chiranjeevi as the actor put his genius in acting and his acting talent in his career to catapult himself to the status of mega star.  

It is true that every human being has a talent but not all human beings recognize their talents to put them to use. It is also true we are not conscious of what we are doing as we do things most of the times inadvertently.

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However, the mega star makes a difference among human beings as he grew consciously of his hidden acting talents even from his childhood and brought himself up with the aim of becoming an actor.

‘I wanted to become a doctor but fate made me an actor,’ is the common practice of expressing their hypocrisy among most of the actors but Chiru wanted to become an actor and he became an actor.  

Siva Sankara Vara Prasad gave shape to his acting genius by joining the Madras Film Institute after initially exhibiting his skills in the stage shows like ‘Chairman’, ‘Rajeenama’ and Light ‘Veligindi’ during his college days.

High talents, low profile and great humility

Chiranjeevi’s film career, as we have all witnessed over the years, has acknowledged that he is a highly talented actor of great caliber. 

It is, however, apt to say that he never indulged in any sort of questionable acts to attract adverse publicity from any quarter of the society throughout his thirty years of Tollywood career.   Chiru maintained an intentionally low profile to keep off controversies while simultaneously disseminating scintillating performances through his action, dialogues and dances in dozens of movies and also by acting in some message-oriented movies like Vijetha, Indra, Tagore and so on.

The great hero’s humility can be seen when he went all the way to the residence of actor couple Dr Rajasekhar and Jeevitha to personally tender his apologies to them following a reported attack by Chiru’s fans on the couple. No other actor would dare do that act in all humility.

Chiru’s heart in social service

With the sole motto of serving the society, the mega star established the Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust (CCT) which runs Chiranjeevi Blood Bank and Chiranjeevi Eye Bank. 

The two banks mainly operate and sustain on the charisma of the mega hero who off and on conducts special campaign programmes to promote blood donations and eye donations. And naturally we do not find any other actor in such activities in Tollywood. 

Social Justice

Chiru daringly entered political spectrum of Andhra Pradesh by launching his Prajarajyam party in 2008 with the slogan of social justice. But circumstances pushed him towards the congress party leading to the party’s merger with it and turning the actor into a congress leader.

There are people who sincerely wished Chiru had not merged his party with the congress but true lovers of the mega star would certainly think he has done a great job by extending a helping hand to the congress party in the state which was put to ransom by the incoherent demands and irrelevant antics of the YSR Congress party chief YS Jaganmohan reddy. 

If Chiru had not joined hands with the congress party, the congress party would certainly not have given permission to the Minister Shankar Rao to file petitions against Jagan. And we, the people of Andhra Pradesh, would have lost an opportunity to witness the greatest of the great scandals involving  Jagan as being unfolded by the CBI raids.