4 min learnHyderabadAug 31, 2026 04:52 PM IST
In 1988, Chiranjeevi went to Delhi to obtain the Nargis Dutt Award for Rudraveena. He returned with the award and a foul reminiscence he would carry for over three many years. Talking on the Acharya pre-release occasion in 2022, the Megastar recalled how the partitions of the Nationwide Movie Awards auditorium that night had been lined with images of Hindi cinema legends whereas the best names of South Indian cinema, from NT Rama Rao to Dr Rajkumar to Sivaji Ganesan, had been nowhere to be seen.
“As I went to obtain the award within the auditorium, the partitions had been adorned with photos of Indian movie legends, proper from Prithviraj Kapoor to Raj Kapoor to Dilip Kumar, and so forth,” Chiranjeevi mentioned. He recalled that the awards ceremony was within the night, preceded by excessive tea within the corridor. The partitions had been meant to have fun the historical past and grandeur of Indian cinema.
However as he seemed for the faces that had formed cinema for a whole lot of tens of millions of individuals throughout South India, he discovered virtually nothing. “From South India, I noticed solely Prem Nazir from Malayalam and MGR and Jayalalithaa collectively in a single image from Tamil, and not one of the different greats from the South,” he mentioned. He named the legends he anticipated to see however had been conspicuous by their absence: Dr. Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, NT Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Sivaji Ganesan and Savitri.
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“They had been demigods to us. And there have been no photos of them. For me, it was humiliating. I felt very unhappy,” he mentioned.
Chiranjeevi mentioned he noticed it as a mirrored image of how the nationwide institution considered South Indian cinema on the time. “They projected solely Hindi cinema as Indian cinema. And so they dismissed different industries as regional language cinema. They didn’t even trouble to acknowledge their contribution,” he mentioned.
In a separate interview across the similar interval, he elaborated additional. “I used to be tremendously pained that Telugu cinema, the trade that gave me fame, title and dignity, was nowhere within the image. It had no identification of its personal,” he mentioned. The movie for which Chiranjeevi obtained the Nationwide Award that night was Rudraveena, directed by Ok. Balachander and produced by Chiranjeevi and Nagendra Babu underneath Anjana Productions, the household’s first manufacturing home, named after their mom Anjana Devi. The Nargis Dutt Award it obtained is without doubt one of the most prestigious classes on the Nationwide Movie Awards, particularly recognising movies that promote nationwide unity.
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Chiranjeevi’s speech on the Acharya pre-release occasion got here at a time when the connection between Hindi cinema and South Indian cinema had modified dramatically. By 2022, S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali franchise had shattered each field workplace document in Indian cinema. RRR had gained the Academy Award for Finest Authentic Track. Pushpa had turned Allu Arjun right into a nationwide phenomenon. KGF had made Yash a family title throughout the Hindi belt. The concept that Indian cinema meant solely Hindi cinema was now not tenable.
Chiranjeevi acknowledged the shift. “After so a few years, in the present day I really feel so proud. I can thump my chest. Our trade proved that we’re now not a regional cinema. Telugu cinema has eliminated these boundaries,” he mentioned.
