Amid the Hindi imposition row, Megastar Chiranjeevi gave an explosive speech at the pre-release event of Acharya. While addressing the gathering, Chiranjeevi said that he felt very humiliated at a Delhi event in 1988. He revealed that Hindi cinema was projected as Indian cinema while South cinema was completely neglected. But, now times have changed.
In this week's Tuesday Trivia, let us go back to 1988 when there was no representation of regional cinema in New Delhi, where Chiranjeevi went to receive a prestigious award.
WHEN CHIRANJEEVI FELT HUMILIATED IN DELHI
In 1988, Chiranjeevi produced his film Rudraveena with his brother Naga Babu. The film was directed by K Balachander. The film won the Nagis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. Chiranjeevi went to Delhi to receive the award. When he went, he said that he felt humiliated as an actor.
Speaking at the event, Chiranjeevi said, "We were having tea in the hall with walls decorated with posters of superstars of Indian cinema. There were descriptions too. Photos of Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Dharmendra and several others were put up. They praised the actors, heroines and directors."
Elaborating further, the Acharya actor said, "I was expecting them to talk about South Indian cinema in great detail as well. They showed a photo of MGR (MG Ramachandran) and Jayalalithaahim . That was it. They projected it as South Indian cinema. Prem Nazir, who acted as a hero in a record number of films in Indian cinema - his photo was put up."
Chiranjeevi then said that he expected photos of Dr Rajkumra, Vishnuvardhan, NTR, Nageswara Rao and Sivaji Ganesan.
Calling them demigods, Chiranjeevi said, "There were no pictures of the legends. I felt humiliated as an actor. I felt sad. There was no representation and projected only Hindi cinema as Indian cinema. They [organisers] didn't bother to acknowledge regional cinema and its contribution."
BUT NOW, TIMES HAVE CHANGED
Chiranjeevi said that times have changed and it was because of one man called SS Rajamouli. He said, "After many years, I feel immensely proud today. I can beamingly say that we are no longer a regional cinema. Telugu cinema has transcended borders and is now a part of Indian cinema. We were discriminated against, but we have overcome that. Thanks to Baahubali, Baahubali 2 and RRR. Thanks to SS Rajamouli for making this happen."
The Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy actor said that he is proud that the Telugu industry made these blockbuster films.
Chiranjeevi's fiery speech comes at a time when Ajay Devgn-Kichcha Sudeep's Twitter war triggered a debate about Hindi imposition.