Chiranjeevi: Salman Khan's presence made 'GodFather' even more glorious

There are only a handful of actors currently in India, who can bank on the unwavering adulation and undying loyalty of their trusted fan base even after nearly four decades in the industry. Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi is definitely on top of that list.

Born Konidela Siva Sankara Vara Prasad, the 67-year-old actor took a hiatus from his super successful on screen career to venture into politics. Ten years later in 2017 he was welcomed back with a rousing round of applause for Khaidi No. 150, remake of the 2014 Tamil hit Katthi.

At a time when Telugu movies are making their mark on the global platform – cue the resounding success of Pushpa and RRR - Chiranjeevi is once again back on the screen, with GodFather, the remake of the 2019 Mohanlal starrer Lucifer. The movie follows events after the death of Andhra Pradesh CM PKR and the appearance of a mysterious figure, Brahma or Godfather.

Starring Chiranjeevi alongside Nayanthara and Satyadev Kancharana, the Mohan Raja directorial also boasts a spectacular cameo by Bollywood superstar Salman Khan. As GodFather continues to rake in mass appreciation and box-office gold, (the movie is slated to have collected Rs380million worldwide on the first day of release alone) we catch up with Chiranjeevi to talk movies, success and the special regard he has for his Gulf audience.

Congratulations on the success of GodFather. But what does success mean to you at this stage of your career beyond the box office collections?

To me success is not so much about box office. It is more about how many people appreciated the film and how much impact the film has had on the audiences.

Irrespective of the box office numbers, the knowledge that the film has been loved by so many people and touched the lives of so many people, itself is a greatly satisfying feeling. It is also something that is addictive. You would want to engage with people and entertain them as long as you can. So for an artist, at any stage of their career, it is the audience’s adulation that truly matters. It is more precious than any material success in tangible terms.

GodFather is the official remake of the Malayalam hit Lucifer. Did you have any conversation with Mohanlal before reprising the role?

My dear Lalettan Mohanlal played the role of Lucifer in Malayalam wonderfully. But when we adopted the film for Telugu audiences, I wanted to portray it the way I perceived it and interpreted it, keeping in mind the tastes of the Telugu audiences and my own image. So I had consciously chosen not to discuss this character with my dear Lalettan, lest I would not have been able to own up the character.

GodFather is a movie that seems to celebrate the superstardom of Chiranjeevi. The way you enter the scene, the action, the background score all aid in this. Do you believe movies such as GodFather are meant to cater to your hardcore fans?

I have been wanting to do a different film myself since my re-entry into films. And of course GodFather gave me that opportunity. For the first time in my career of 150 plus movies, I did not have a heroine, songs, dances or comedy sequences in GodFather.

I was a bit apprehensive about whether people would like to see me in such an intense political drama. But all my apprehensions were put to rest when audiences gave their unanimous verdict about the film. And despite the absence of all these elements, the role of Godfather is quite a powerful role and the way director Mohan Raja sculpted it further making minimal use of dialogue and extracted my performance through my presence and made me emote through my eyes have appealed to the audiences and my fans alike.

The presence of Salman Khan makes the movie more special for Bollywood fans. Did you not fear that he will walk away with all the glory!

No way. On the contrary, I knew he would greatly complement my character. And our combination will greatly enhance the movie experience. The character of Godfather needs a star of Salman bhai’s stature to lend credibility to Godfather’s power. So I would say Sallu bhai’s presence made GodFather even more glorious.