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Childhood:
Konidela Siva Sankara Vara Prasad a.k.a. Chiranjeevi, the Megastar of Telugu film industry was born in a missionary hospital at Narsapuram, a village in the West Godavari district on 22nd August 1955. He was born to Shri.Venkat Rao and Smt.Anjani Devi. Chiranjeevi grew up in his native village with his grand parents, while his family was elsewhere because of his fathers occupation. The sense of discipline and hard working, which he still embraces, were introduced at a very young age in his life. The tough childhood he had being the eldest in his family has helped him to handle many such events of higher proportion with great expertise in the later stages of his life.
Varaprasad birth time is 10.05 am on Monday 22nd Aug 1955
Education: Varaprasads education was nomadic accounting to his father VenkatRao's frequent transfers to Ongole, Ponnur, Bapatla, Mangalagiri, Gurajala, Chirala, Nellore etc, which did not really defer Vara Prasad as he gained a great friend circle wherever he was. Varaprasad is really fortunate for his father has constantly encouraged him after having discovered the undaunted liking of his son towards cultural activities.
Varaprasad did his schooling in Nidadavolu, Gurajala, Ponnuru, Bapatla, Mangalagiri and Mogalturu. He also won first prize for his first performance as Parandhamayya Panthulu. After high school, Varaprasad joined Bi.P.C in P.R.Sharma Jr. College at Ongole. Following that he finished his B.Com from Narasapur College.
After graduating with a degree, Chiranjeevi came to madras to pursue a degree and career in CA (cost accountancy) and as fate would have it enrolled in Film institute in Chennai and walked out with a diploma
Plays in College Days
Paradhyanam Panthulu
Rajeenama
Light Veligindi
Acted as Pothuraju in 1976 Republic day parade representing Andhra Pradesh and participated in the capacity of NCC Cadet Captain.
Family Info: Chiranjeevi married Surekha, daughter of veteran actor and comedian Padmashri Late Dr Shri. Allu Ramalingayya. Chiru has always been a family man. He is blessed with two daughters Susmita & Srija and a son Ramcharan Teja. His younger brother Kalyan has reformed himself into one of the reckoning actors n the Telugu film marquee. His elder brother is into film production and also into acting career. His younger sister works for Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust and elder sister is a house wife.
Family Members Info
| Father |
Konidela Venkata Rao |
| Mother |
Anjani Devi |
| Elder Brother |
Nagendra Babu |
| Younger Brother |
Kalyan Babu |
| Elder Sister |
Vijaya Durga |
| Younger Sister |
Dr Madhavi |
| Wife |
Surekha |
| Elder Daughter |
Susmitha |
| Son |
Ram Charan Teja |
| Younger Daughter |
Srija |
| Brother in Law |
Allu Aravind |
| Father in Law |
Allu Ramalingaiah |
| Mother in Law |
Kanaka Rathnam |
| Into the Films:
Little did he imagine, even in the wildest of his dreams, that he would, one day, be a Megastar and rule the Telugu Film Industry. Years later, this youngster called Chiranjeevi in the Film Industry, with his hard work and dedication to his profession, could make it really big in the field hitting the limelight, with an unparallel fan following emulating his every act, word, dress, dance charitable activities and social service. What makes this ordinary human being such an extraordinary one - god knows.
It was in 1978 while studying at the Film Institute run by the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce in Madras that Chiranjeevi got an offer to act in Punadhi Raallu. But the movie got delayed. |
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Producer-director T Kranti Kumar, who had seen his photograph, gave him a role in the film, Pranam Khareedu. Subsequently, director Bapu signed him for Manavoori Pandavulu, where he first gained some recognition. He acted in a lot of best movies to date and had been able to deliver splendid action-packed movies. With all these talents in him, it is not a big surprise to know that he has been one of the highest paid movie actors in the Indian Film Industry. He occupies the top slot in telugu film industry for 20 + long years. |
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Acting Career: Chiranjeevi is not entirely a part of the Tollywood cult of second-generation heroes who were helped in any small measure by their successful god-fathers. He was a self-made man who crafted a career entirely on his own merits. After struggling for some time, Chiranjeevi landed in an acting role in films like Pranam Khareedu and Punadhi Rallu. Since those modest beginnings to this date he has acted in more than 143 films. Through out his career he has been through a lot of up and downs. But, every time he came back with double vengeance and won his way through peoples hearts with his wonderful performances in his films.
With Khaidi the angry young man had arrived on the Telugu screen. The film established his position firmly. By then the |
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.slab system of taxation had come into vogue and Khaidi proved to what extent a hit films collections can soar in such a system. And his blockbuster, Gharana Mogudu was the first film to collect a share of over ten crore rupees in the history of Telugu cinema. This success story spread to Hindi films too. Chiranjeevi did three films in Hindi-Pratibandh, Aaj Ka Goondaraaj and The Gentleman. The first two films directed by Ravi Raja were big hits. He has more than 10 industry hits to his credit and Indra a faction based movie is the first movie to cross 30 crore share mark in South Indian films.
Chiru in the view of his Peers:
Chiranjeevi is hailed as the money-spinning machine and the new avatar of box-office collections. Even the messiah of box office hits Amithab Bachchan wondered at the revenue some of Chiranjeevi films grossed in Andhra Pradesh and elsewhere. A self-made actor with no Godfather in the film industry, as in vogue these days, Chiranjeevi, can be rightly called the last of the titans of the Telugu tinsel world this century has produced.
Even his colleague and super star Akkineni Nagarjuna once said, There is only one numero uno hero in Telugu cinema and he is Chiranjeevi. Such is the awe of the man, whose main goal now is to live up to the expectations of his fans. This is what Venkatesh who is considered second to none other than our own megastar has got to say about the speculation of Chiranjeevi political entrance- I would not like him to enter politics since then I would not have anybody in the industry to try and reach upon.
Chiranjeevi the last number one hero of telugu cinema by Mahesh babu.
Chiranjeevi - The Actor
In spite of being the most sought after commercial star, Chiranjeevi, being a Film Institute product, had the urge to do off-beat roles. Time and again he has tried his hand at such roles in films such as Bharathi Raja's Aradhana, K Balachander's Rudraveena and K Viswanath's Swayamkrushi and Aapadbandhavudu. The last two films won him the best actor award from the Andhra Pradesh Government. Rudraveena got him the coveted Nargis Dutt national integration award at the Central Govt level. But except for Swayamkrushi which was a moderate success, the others failed at the box office.
Apart from the above artistic value movies, Chiranjeevi also did couple of strong message oriented movies in the form of Tagore and Stalin and both were blockbusters with more than 30 crores of revenue.
As Chiranjeevi is going to complete three decades into the telugu film industry and in all achievements and honors, there is no sign of pride but he is still going successfully with a string of hit films.
Chiranjeevi, The Human being: Chiranjeevi is the only actor in the world to celebrate his birthday coinciding with the hundred-day run of one of his films (Gang Leader). In 1991, such an extravaganza, starting in the morning and ending in the evening at Vizag, Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Tirupathi (he flew by a chartered chopper) took his fans into delirium. He has a perfect rapport with his fans and he feels that he should do anything within his capacity for them.
And naturally, his fans are actively participating in the Blood Bank and Eye Bank that Chiranjeevi has launched recently under Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust. The Trust has adopted Nizamabad district as a model district and also spread its activities to other areas as well.
He explains his success as a kind of journey that will have its breaks meaning failures intermittently but will still have to be continued just the same. His best critics are his wife Surekha, his brother and brother-in-law who are always around him and air their views on his performance. In spite of the enormous fan following that he has, Chiranjeevi has maintained the self-discipline that he cultivated when he was still a struggling artiste and finding it difficult to make both ends meet. He feels very happy because he has had no godfather in the industry and has risen to this position of fame only through sheer grit and hard work. |
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