Open letter to Chiranjeevi

Chiranjeevi (fondly called Chiru by his fans) is a power-house of talent. Give him any tough scene and see how his face morphs into a fleet of expressions along with superb body language. It is once in a while that such versatility is packed in a single actor. Plus his humble roots endow him with a special quality of modesty so rare in super-stars. I am not a Chiranjeevi fan, I just appreciate good cinema and like to identify/analyze acting ability. .

What has slowed him is his CHOICE of films. I guess the change in trend of his films started with the disaster of DADDY in 2001, a film that depicts him as a loving father yearning for his child which he acted with utmost sincerity. The film was quite good, but not good enough for his mass fans. They rejected his movie since it failed to 'entertain' them devoid of his trade-mark heroism. Probably this made him desperate for a hit, to appease his thirsty fans. The gods blessed him with INDRA. An industry hit in 2002, a perfect example of what happens if everything can go right in a film.

Then TAGORE followed in 2003 as another hit, though not to such an extent as one hoped for, but still strong enough to boost his image. The cast had been set, Chiru found the mould which brought him stupendous success in his sagging years. Then ANJI followed, it squeaked and simpered at the box-office, but he was pardoned of guilt since anyway it was a dust-covered movie released after a long time.

Shankardada MBBS was declared a hit even before its release due to the bankable story-screenplay borrowed scene-by-scene from its Hindi original. However it failed to create the kind of thunderous response fans had hoped for. I have seen both Hindi and Telugu versions, sorry to admit but Munnabhai MBBS contained a soul and could stir our emotions even without trying to; while Shankardada MBBS tried hard on the emotional front without any effect, moreover in its eagerness to appeal some scenes esp. vulgar dances to its mass fans it lost other audiences and settled down to a moderate hit.

And now Andarivadu in 2005 is a perfect example of what happens when everything goes wrong in a film..sorry emotionless film. Only Chiru's acting prowess stopped the film from being a total failure. This is also what happens when hype fails to meet expectations and directors-producers try to milk a cash-cow(Chiru) without sincere efforts in film-making. All we can hope now is if Chiru tries to move out from formula films which even his hard-core fans are probably tired of because of recent flops. A formula film becomes a huge hit like INDRA only if it is excellently packaged with story-screenplay-songs-acting etc. plus audiences should empathize with the characters and their emotions. Otherwise there is no point in recycling.

Look at 2004-2005, there are off-beat or 'hatke' films with different stories/treatment that have become hits like Anukokonda Oka Roju, Anand, 7G-Brindavan Colony and to some extent NVNV and Aparichitudu. Let Chiru do a couple of such classy movies, the mass audience may not accept him immediately but if he does both types of movies eventually they will. He should not give so much importance to commercial profits of his movies wanting each one to be a huge hit. While there is nothing wrong in wishing it, he should atleast give some importance to creativity in his films with low or moderate budgets to avoid losses.

Chiranjeevi is one of the finest actors in Telugu film industry, hope he continues to entertain all sections of the audience in a manner befitting his talent.

Thanks to Mr.Jeevi for providing this platform of writing open letters to film stars.

Kishore Kumar
California, Sunnyvale, USA
neokish@yahoo.com

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