South star Chiranjeevi shared his views on Hindi Cinema being recognized as Indian Cinema at a recent event. The actor appeared in Acharya’s pre-release event and narrated an incident in 1989.
Chiranjeevi Recalls an event
Actor Chiranjeevi, at the pre-release event of his upcoming Telugu film Acharya, remembered an incident from his life where he felt insulted and humiliated while attending an award ceremony in Delhi, in 1989. He said that he felt insulted by the very little importance that was given to south Indian cinema and its actors while talking about Indian cinema.
Chiranjeevi once attended an after-party on the eve of an award ceremony in 1989. He was invited to the award ceremony where his movie Rudraveena was honored with the prestigious Nargis Dutt award. On the eve of the award ceremony, he attended a high tea party where he walked past a wall that showed the history of Indian cinema. He said that he felt insulted as the wall had very little mention of south Indian actors.
“I kept wandering in anticipation to see something on south films. However, there was only a still of MGR with Jayalalithaa and a photo of Prem Nazir. They titled it ‘south films’. Just that. They did not recognize stalwarts like Dr. Rajkumar or Vishnuvardhan or NT Ramarao or Nageswara Rao or Sivaji Ganesan or even the legendary filmmakers of our industries. I felt very humiliated at that moment. It was like an insult. They displayed Hindi cinema as Indian cinema. While other films were categorized as ‘regional films’ and were not given respect,” Chiranjeevi revealed.
Baahubali, RRR, and KGF
Even though he recalls talking about it back then, he said he did not receive any response. He then said that films like Baahubali, RRR, Pushpa, and KGF are making the nation recognize directors, actors, and writers from south India.
He even thanked directors like SS Rajamouli and Prashanth Neel for making films that successfully broke the regional barriers. Calling Rajamouli the ‘Demigod of Indian cinema’, he said. “Baahubali made me proud as it removed the division between regional and Hindi cinema and proved that we all are a part of the Indian film industry. These films have made Telugu audiences proud. Hats off to SS Rajamouli for giving us films like Baahubali and RRR. He will be remembered forever,” Chiranjeevi said.
