Actor Chiranjeevi Konidela

Chiranjeevi, is a Telugu film actor, also called "MegaStar" by his fans and admirers. He was awarded the Padma Bhushan award, the third highest award bestowed by the Government of India. He is the only Tollywood actor to receive seven Filmfare Best Actor awards. He announced his formal entry into politics on in August 2008 by launching the Praja Rajyam Party at Tirupathi in presence of a big gathering from every corner of the state and participated in 2009 elections. He is a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly representing Tirupathi.Chiranjeevi married Surekha, the daughter of veteran comedian Allu Ramalingaiah. He has two daughters Sushmitha, Sreeja and a son Ram Charan Teja.Chiranjeevi was a student at the Madras Film Institute and an amateur stage actor. Before completing his training at the film institute, he attended auditions and selected for the film Punaadi Raallu (1978). However, Pranam Khareedu was his first film released in theaters. His first public performance was in the Republic Day parade ballet of Andhra Pradesh on 26 January 1976. In the film Paleru Narsayya, he acted without makeup and impressed the prominent members of the industry. Famous directors Bapu and K Balachandar, who had attended the preview of this film, offered the roles in their respective movies. In Balachander’s Idi Katha Kaadu he acted in a negative role, but in Bapu’s Manavoori Pandavulu he played one important role. For this movie he received a remuneration of Rs.1116. Towards the end of 1979, Chirajeevi started gaining pace in the industry with eight releases in the year. In Kothala Rayudu, a film released during this period, he played the title role for the first time. In 1980, a record fourteen films starring Chiranjeevi hit the theaters, establishing a solid base for him in the industry. In the next two years Chiranjeevi acted in several films in leading, supporting and even in negative roles.Most notably, his performances in Punnami Naagu (1980) and Nyayam Kavali (1981), Albeit having negative shades, were acclaimed by critiques and audience alike. The year 1983 was a major turning point in Chiranjeevi’s career. Khaidi, which was released in October of this year, brought immediate stardom to Chiranjeevi and marked the beginning of his dominance in the industry. Many film critiques believe that the film has influenced the Telugu Cinema much the same way as the Hindi film Sholay influenced Bollywood. Inspired heavily by the Hollywood flick “First Blood”, Khaidi increased the demand for the director and writers also, besides turning the combination of the duo - director A Kodanda Rami Reddy and Chiranjeevi – into one of the most successful combinations in the industry. This duo went on to work together in 23 films in total, most of them being huge box office blockbusters. Popular tamil director Balachandar once said that Chiranjeevis acting is a combination of Rajnis mass appeal plus Kamal hasans acting and dancing acumen. Famous Ad guru Prahlad Kakkad said that the ideas of Chiranjeevi helped him for preparing the AD of Thums up in Andhrapradesh whose sales were up by 55% once chiru started promoting Thums up. But, later on, Chiranjeevi gave up its promotion due to the possible presence of pesticides in the soft drinksHe has acted even in Hindi movies and his performance was appreciated in many Bollywood movies including Prathibandh (1990), Aaj Ka Goonda Raj (1992), and The Gentleman (1994). Some of his Telugu films were dubbed in Hindi like Indra-the tiger, Coolie, Himmatwala, Bajrang-The Heman, Aadmi aur apsara etc..His dubbed film Indra-The Tiger is one of the best seller in the Hindi DVD market.Chiranjeevi started his political party "Praja Rajyam" on 26th August, 2008 amid huge fanfare at Avilala grounds, Tirupathi. Around 17 lakh people attended the party launch meeting. Chiranjeevi stated that Social justice as the main agenda of his party and he proved it by giving 104 MLA tickets to the backward sections in Andhrapradesh including a poor tribal woman Tupakula munemma. Many coverts from TDP and Congress joined him and resigned just before elections there by maligning his image. He contested in 2009 general elections and won from Tirupati constituency as MLA in Andhra Pradesh. But the party got a major drubbing and could not make any major wins. Chiranjeevi himself contested from two different constituencies(Palakollu and Tirupathi)in 2009 elections and lost in Palakollu. Praja rajyam got only 18 MLA seats in the 2009 general elections. But, chiru was not disheartened by the disappointing result but he tried to put a bravefront and continuing his political journey with hopes on future. On December, 10, 2009, Chiranjeevi changed his stand on telangana issue and stated that he wishes to see United AP forever. In May,2010, he conducted a mass educative rally in the coastal districts of AP for attaining national status for the prestigious Polavaram project and he also met prime minister in this regard. Chiranjeevi proved to be a political novice with his somersault on Telangana.