Chiranjeevi’s Interview with worldspaceasia.com
Translated excerpts from the exclusive interview …
What role does money play in your life? Where do you place wealth in your list of priorities?
When I decided to become an actor, my mother was very apprehensive, as we had no acquaintances in the film industry. I told her if she let me be an actor, I would fill up the Godrej almirah in the house with bundles of notes. She laughed it away. I didn?t really mean it seriously either, but what I said in jest that day came true today.
Making money was not really a goal or a priority. My aim was to earn name, fame and carve a niche of my own in the field that I have chosen. Today, I try to teach my children the value of money. I believe that one should not hesitate to spend money when it can bring you invaluable happiness but never waste.Money is not the most important thing in life for me, but I do not belittle its importance. For comfort, peace, and happiness and to serve others? you need money to derive any kind of satisfaction in life. I wouldn?t say that money is insignificant, but that is not the only important thing. But for most important things in life you need money.
What about success? Was it a definite goal or is it incidental?
I don?t react very strongly to success. I?m in a state of vacuum after a film is completed. I am totally excited and happy when I am working. It is the work that gives me real pleasure. Yes, I do care about the result but I don?t get really excited about success even if I want to. My mind moves ahead immediately, I would be thinking about the next project.
When I started off, my target was not success. I was so thrilled to be doing something that I really enjoyed, that I only concentrated on performing to the satisfaction of the producer, director, co-artistes and other team members on the sets ? be it the choreographer or fight master. Even today, I am totally focused on the moment, delivering my best that day, that moment. The result of the film is not something that enters my mind when I am filming. I think that focus in turn assures a good product and a good product always finds acceptance with the audience.
But after the initial taste of success, did retaining what you have achieved become a priority?
Yes, after you get a certain amount of name, fame and success, the effort to retain that keeps increasing. The audiences? expectations from me keep increasing by the film. I just need to live up to their expectations, and they will ensure my success .My thoughts always revolve around how to satisfy my audience, how to make them accept my film and me. Once I decide on a subject, I try to pepper that subject with all the ingredients that they relish.
It must be a lot of pressure?
There is always pressure but it is not the kind that bothers me. It is a pressure that excites me. It is a productive pressure. It drives me to perform better. So I feel it is a positive pressure. It is neither depressing nor confusing. For instance when I am stuck up with a dance movement, I don?t compromise; I try to adapt it to my body language. I rehearse till I get it right. I never give up. And this is why choreographers like Prabhu Deva and Lawrence like me
But what happens when there is a conflict ? between what the audience wants and what you want?
Sometimes when I watched certain films of other actors, there used to be a regret that despite having the ability to perform like them I?m not getting a chance to do those roles. There was an internal conflict, and after that I picked characters that fulfilled my quest for challenges as an actor. Those films satisfied me as an artiste but the results were not satisfactory. A few films like Swayamkrushi did well at the box office, but by and large they have not been able to reach out to a large section of the audience. And after some time my audience?s satisfaction became more important to me than my own. This super stardom is not bestowed upon every one. There are many actors but very few superstars. I consider myself very lucky to be one of the chosen few and the least I can do in return is to place the audiences gratification above my need to display my histrionic talent. And today, I have absolutely no regrets. My commitment is to commercial cinemaA celebration is nothing but the sharing of happiness with those close to you. I am never against celebrations. When the fans like a film, they applaud heartily. I enjoy seeing their excitement. And my fans have always been very responsible. It is only at the beginning of my career that there were instances of conflict with the fans of other heroes. I decided the only way to handle this is to set a good example instead of preaching to them. So I bonded with my co-heroes, attended their functions, invited them to my public functions and partied with them. I made sure there were no differences between us. Eventually my fans followed suit and today they are on good terms with Nagarjuna’s, Mahesh’s and other heroes? fans. The stray incidents that you hear about are local differences that are being fought under the guise of conflict between fans associations.
You have an army of followers behind you. People who blindly idolise you, form fans associations, spend a lot of money on celebrations?one does hear about things going out of hand during these celebrations. Do you take moral responsibility for the actions of your fans?
I am very proud of my fans for taking forward my charity work. They have been the soldiers committed to the causes that I took up. When I started my Blood Bank and Eye Bank, I was very apprehensive of my ability to make them a success, but the devotion and loyalty of my fans keeps increasing everyday. Fans can be very powerful. It is only because I managed to channelise their energies properly that they are of such a great help to others.It is their dedication that is saving save so many lives with blood donations and giving sight to the blind through eye donations. I call them most deservingly my blood brothers. I believe in paying society back. I?ve given very little to the public but what they gave me is phenomenal. I felt indebted to them. I needed to do something to help others, so I established The Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust. It developed into eye and blood banks. Many more services are coming up. I feel strongly about serving the society but I have no political ambitions. I want to do more in the field of education, expand the health activities. I?ve decided to endorse more products and my remuneration for that will be diverted to expanding this charity work. But joining politics ? definitely no.
n AP, After NTR you are the only one who has this kind of following, NTR chose to use this collective energy towards a political goal, which is probably the reason why there is a lot of speculation in the recent past about your joining politics. The dialogues in your films also sometimes encourage this speculation. Do you intend to have a political career?
You are the strongest opinion leader in this State, so do you intend to support issues that you identify with.
I have no political thoughts. I never think about it. When people question me, I go blank. Do I really have the intentions? My minds has no answer so the conclusion is no.Despite acting in so many films, my passion for acting is still growing. It is this love that makes me crave for more. My achievements seem inadequate. I struggle harder everyday to satisfy the audience.The response and applause of the audience gives me motivation, happiness and so much energy that I can survive even if I don?t eat.
Each individual in the crowd, I feel, is trying to tell me something. I always feel thrilled and also intrigued on what they are trying to communicate to me. For instance, for the recent charity cricket match, Sachin Tendulkar and I were in a car. People crowded the place and were violently trying to break the security barriers. A 25 ?30 year old middle-class woman pushed ahead. She just wanted to shake hands with me; just wanted to have a single touch. I?m driven by these gestures, their immense love.
Your career has given you everything on a lavish scale – money, success, and adulation. Within the parameters of commercial cinema, you have done practically all that can be done, so what is it that drives you today? Where does your enthusiasm for work come from?
But after so many years of doing similar roles, is there no fatigue?
Sometimes there is. But the moment I feel the fatigue, I bounce back and use that feeling to extract better work from my team members, – better music, dance, fights. I do feel at times that it ?s getting monotonous but I always use it constructively and make sure it results in creating something extra-special for the film.
