Chiranjeevi And His Political Journey Seems Jittery Day By Day

CHIRANJEEVI must be having the toughest time of his life as the days are progressing and nearing to the general assembly elections in 2009. He has been received well among his fans during his Public meeting in Tirupathi and also in the subsequent road shows in various parts of Andhra Pradesh. But is everything as rosy as it seems for him? Is he able to get a proverbial good night’s sleep these days? To find answers to these and some more questions… Read On…

• Earlier, it was the “attack on fellow artists Rajashekhar & Jeevitha by Chiru fans” episode that shook him. As if it were a welcome gesture… it was just before entering in to the politics.
• And then Chiranjeevi’s panel suffered humiliating defeat in Movie Artistes Association (MAA). A long-time associate of TDP and noted actor cum producer Murali Mohan was elected the president of MAA, defeating veteran actor Vijaychander, supported by Chiranjeevi. Out of the 400-odd votes cast in the MAA elections, Murali Mohan got 244 while his rival Vijaychander polled 116 votes. Ahuti Prasad from Murali Mohan panel was elected general secretary with 240 votes, defeating Ayyappa P Sharma of Chiranjeevi panel. Legendary actress Jayasudha was unanimously elected vice-president while Legendary actor Kota Srinivasa Rao was elected treasurer. So, at the so-called home turf, the film industry, he suffered humiliating losses. The reasons seem to be many… one among them being that all through his illustrious and prosperous career in Telugu, he never gave a damn about the Telugu Film industry.
• Long time friend of Chiranjeevi and producer of his many blockbusters C Aswini Dutt announced that he would NOT part ways with TDP and join PRP. What a blow…!!!
• More than the politics and its messy affairs, what shook Chiru was a disgusting act by some party workers of another party (widely believed to be of TRS) in which they hurled a few eggs on him from the roof tops during his roadshow. Although he gracefully shrugged off the whole incident, he must be really embarrassed to have gone through the ordeal. A scene from his movie Master must have flashed in front of his face where some rogue students of his class hurl eggs and tomatoes. But the only difference being that… in the movie, the larger than life hero catches all of eggs and sundry while in real life most of them landed on him.
• So, what is left to stutter and suffer more…? Yesteryear hero Krishna is a long time associate of the Congress party. He has been indirectly opposing Chiru’s monopoly in the industry… and even established a Krishna-Mahesh Sena which would bring together his and his son Mahesh Babu’s fans together and in direct opposition to Chiru’s party PRP. Remember that Mahesh never attended Vajrotsavam (conducted by Chiru’s near and dear) Although Mahesh never committed to it… everyone expects him to campaign for Congress in the ensuing elections. If that happens… then Mahesh fans would counter if not equal Chiru’s fans in number… which is debatable.
• So, what is Mr Mohan Babu doing all through this? He has been a staunch critic of Chiru’s monopoly on the telugu film industry’s affairs like the pathetic conductance of Vajrotsavam (75 years of Telugu film industry). Hmmm… he became a family member of the state’s chief minister YSR himself by engaging his son Vishnu with YSR’s brother’s daughter. So, there are no prizes for guessing… who would he support in the coming elections.
• It seems PRP is very unlikely to have tie ups with any party as it is too prejudiced. Remember the notorious rhetoric of Dr Mitra… “Maa Party Maa Ishtam…” while talking to the media. Dr Mitra plans every move of Chiru’s party. So it is quite unlikely that PRP would have any tie up with the Left parties. Hmmm… PRP’s loss might be TDP’s gain.
• In the midst of all this there was a sting operation by some folk where Chiranjeevi is shown advising his party members to spy on the members who joined from the other parties. It was one of the funniest videos… Isn’t it?
• Another interesting development was that Legendary actor Rajendra Prasad met Chief Minister YSR to show his solidarity with the Congress Party. Also actor Srihari, who has mass following has also been roped in to the Congress party to campaign.
• Now, there is a new development in which a long time friend of Chiranjeevi, actor Nagarjuna is also planning to campaign for the Congress party. Legendary actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nag’s father, is a long time admirer of Congress party. If that fructifies, then it is a laughable blow… as Nag is considered to be a Yes-man to Chiru. Nag has already featured in some advertisements highlighting welfare schemes of the Congress government. These advertisements hit television screens two days ago. After roping in Nagarjuna to act in some television advertisements to publicise its welfare schemes, the Congress is planning to convince him to campaign for the party in the elections, due to be held in March-April next year. The 49-year-old actor, who has a mass following, had acted in few advertisements on behalf of TDP before the 2004 elections.
• So, what exactly is the biggest blow to him…? Well, I personally consider that the Yuvagarjana meeting by TDP where in actor Bala Krishna and other Nandamuri family members announced their entry in to the politics to be the biggest blow. Ex-Chief Minister Chandra Babu Naidu himself seems to be in awe of the success of the meeting. Although fans claim that the number of people that attended the meeting to be around 18+ lakhs, I personally estimate, very conservatively, around 10-12 lakhs. Even going by my number… it is around 4-5 lakhs in excess of Chiranjeevi’s meeting in Tirupathi.

So, the ensuing elections in Andhra Pradesh are likely to witness a keen tussle among top stars of the Telugu film industry. While both Congress and TDP were adding several stars in their ranks, Chiranjeevi is fighting a lone battle by banking heavily on his fan following.

In the end, Indian Filmdom wishes Chiranjeevi Good Luck for his film career… if at all there is any left of it…