Megastar Chiranjeevi is gearing up for the release of his next, titled Godfather. The film also stars Salman Khan in a cameo and marks their first ever collaboration. Their moves in the dance number Thaar Maar Thakkar Maar has already grabbed the attention of many.
At the pre-release event of the film held in Mumbai today, Chiranjeevi opened up about how he is elated that linguistic barriers have finally blurred and the film industries of India have come together as one consolidated entity.
Talking about how he always wished for the north-south divide to take a backseat, he said, “Back in 1988, I made a film called Rudraveena which won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration and I had come to Mumbai to receive the award on behalf of my producers. During high tea, I was roaming around in the corridors of the venue and saw photographs, which traced the history of Indian cinema. There were photos of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Raaj Kumar and many other stalwarts. But I didn’t find a single photo of any South actor, apart from one featuring MGR (late actor) and Jayalalithaa (late actor and former Tamil Nadu CM) ji."
He further added that he was disheartened to see how pictures of some of the biggest names of south cinema were completely ignored. “There are many big and legendary south heroes like MTR, ANR and others, who are treated like demi-gods but I didn’t see their photographs. Shivaji Ganeshan was a fantastic actor but his picture wasn’t there either. That caused me pain," he remarked.
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The multiple National Award-winning actor stated that the West is to be blamed for causing this divide and perceiving Hindi cinema as Indian cinema. “The foreign delegates projected Indian cinema as Bollywood but there are other wonderful films and actors who belong to Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada film industries. Back then, I was wishing for those barriers to go. Be it south or Hindi films, our sentiments and emotions are the same. All our actors are great. But now that day has come," he expressed.
Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan belted out one of the biggest films of all times with filmmaker SS Rajamouli’s magnum opus, RRR, which released earlier this year. The film has already created a splash in the West and when the Oscars didn’t mention it in the nominations across categories, it gave rise to a furore on social media. Now, as per reports, RRR’s US distributor, Dylan Marchetti, told Variety that he would be launching a campaign for the film by inviting 10,000 members of the Academy to vote for RRR in all categories.
Speaking to News18 exclusively, Chiranjeevi expressed his joy and said, “It’s a proud moment for me. I’m very happy. My agony during those times was for this day to come. It’s (RRR’s global presence) a collective effort. Rajamouli, along with the actors and the film, is trying to hit the bull’s eye and get attention. It has a probability to win the Oscars. It’s a moment of surprise for me."
The Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy (2019) actor added, “People’s hearts have become bigger and now they welcome actors from all industries. After the release of RRR, Ram Charan is being accepted by everyone as their own. I was never received like that. As a father, I feel so happy. My dream has come true through him."
On a related note, Godfather is a remake of the 2019 Malayalam film Lucifer starring superstar Mohanlal. Godfather also stars Nayanthara and Satyadev Kancharana. It is slated to release on October 5.
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