In the film-crazy Telugu States, politics and tinsel glamour are inexorably linked to each other. Conferring Padma Vibhushan—India’s second highest civilian honour—on Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi signals BJP’s keenness to expand its footprint in the region by wooing movie icons with a huge fan base.
Despite a disastrous tryst with politics more than 15 years ago that ended on a rather ignominious note, Chiranjeevi (68), who has starred in over 150 movies in a career spanning four decades, is still popular among masses and is widely respected for his philanthropic activities.
His younger brother Pawan Kalyan is an actor-turned-politician whose Jana Sena Party is already in alliance with the BJP in Andhra Pradesh, going to polls in April-May.
There is a pattern to the saffron party’s outreach to the film personalities. In 2022, V Vijayendra Prasad, the script writer for the blockbuster film “Baahubali”, was nominated to the Rajya Sabha. The two-part movie was directed by his son SS Rajamouli.
Apart from a huge fan following, Chiranjeevi hails from the influential and numerically strong ‘Kapu’ community in AP. Though the megastar has been keeping himself away from politics, his word still holds sway over his countless fans. Chiranjeevi merged his ‘Praja Rajyam’ party with Congress in 2011, just three years after the launch with much fanfare. The Congress sent him to Rajya Sabha and subsequently made him the union tourism minister in Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s cabinet during UPA II.
After quitting active politics, Chiranjeevi revived his film career and gave a couple of big hits. It is said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi shares a warm relationship with the actor. He was among the very few film celebrities to receive an invite to attend the recent consecration of Ram temple in Ayodhya. Two years ago the National Film Development Corporation (NFDC) conferred the Indian Film Personality of the Year on Chiranjeevi.
In July 2022, he received a personal invitation from Modi to attend the unveiling of legendary freedom fighter Alluri Sitarama Raju’s bronze statue at Bhimavaram, a coastal Andhra town.
The BJP had followed a similar template in neighbouring Tamil Nadu when it cultivated a special bond with superstar Rajinikanth who was conferred Padma Vibhushan in 2016. However, the developments in TN did not go the way the saffron party wanted.
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