December 14

It was Dec 2001, I was on my way to India after a five years gap and I was really excited about everything. During the lay over (8 hours) in London, I met a Telugu girl. Initially I thought she is north Indian because she was listening to Hindi songs but it turned out that she is Telugu. She asked me, what music I like. I told her that I watch only Chiranjeevi movies and listen to his movie songs and nothing else. After that we landed in Dubai from London and got on the Dubai to Hyderabad plane to finish our final leg of the tour. I found my seat and was settling down when my new friend ran over to me and said “Did you see Chiranjeevi in the first class?” I said no. She retorted “how could you miss him, you said you are a big fan of him, he is right there sitting in the first class”. Initially I thought she was pulling my leg, but when I realized she wasn’t kidding, there was not a thing in the world that could stop me from getting to the first class, not the still walking in passengers or the first class air hostess. I basically flew in like I was in trance, and there he was, Chiranjeevi, Megastar, the greatest movie actor ever to walk this land, casually sitting in the first class next to his beloved wife, enjoying, probably one of the few chances he gets in his life to have some lone time.

When I saw him, my eagerness to see him turned into anger. These were pre “Indra” days, the days when every Chiranjeevi fan was in despair. The days when people were openly contemplating if Megastar’s stardom is coming to close, I couldn’t hold my anger in, so I complained to him, “enti sir, gang leader rojulu emi poyinaii, what did you do to our gang leader, before when I walk out of your movie, I used to be inspired, confident and ready to tackle my daily problems. Now I watch daddy and I come out moping just like you did in the movie. You don’t look confident any more, it’s almost like you don’t have faith in yourself. I was going to continue but Chiru with a smile on his face said, are you going continue to yell at me or do you want a picture with me before the air hostess comes back for you. So I realized my mistake, ran back and got my camera, this time with Chiru’s recommendation to airhostess to give me a minute, I got my pictures with him and Chiru said ok go back to your seat and we will meet after we land in Hyderabad. I spent the next three hours some where up in the sky, devising various plans to beat all the other passengers out of the plane so I can see my beloved Megastar again. To my despair, when the plane landed, they let the first class passengers leave first and the other passengers were faster than me in getting out of their seat and blocking the aisle, practically ruining any chances for me of ever running into Chiru again. So I consoled myself and at the same time patted my back for having such an awesome luck of running into Megastar and slowly got myself to baggage claim, without any hope of seeing Chiru in person again. Was I wrong!

There he was standing next to the baggage claim waiting for somebody. Wait, is he. Is he waiting for me, I couldn’t believe it, there is no freaking way, but it’s true. Here is a man that can make a million people go crazy for him, just by looking at them. He is waiting for me, for me. I ran toward him, before I even opened my mouth, he said, so what are your plans in India. I replied, I have no plans just vacationing, and then it hit me, and I blurted, “If it’s ok, can I come and see your movie shooting”. He replied I will be at Annapurna studios on Dec 16th, call my secretary on 15th her name is Suma, she will arrange everything and he handed me a phone number. I was shocked, I kept on thanking him, he smiled and left, I continued to thank him trying not to wake up, in case I am dreaming.

On Dec 15th, I called his secretary, told her how I met Chiru, and asked her if I could visit him at Annapurna studios. She sounded like she didn’t believe me, but she said she will call me back and took my number. I hung up the phone, feeling very down, I didn’t think she believed me and I didn’t think she is going to call me back. Two days later on the 17th, I went home, my aunt sounding very confused said, “aare Suma anta Chiranjeevi secretary anta, evaro phone chesaru, ninnu phone cheyyamani cheppindi”. I leaped at the phone and dialed her number, she said “I didn’t believe you earlier but I asked Chiranjeevi garu today during break fast and he confirmed your story”. The shooting got post phoned to 18th (tomorrow) if you are still interested you can come. I replied, “I will be there”. Next day, I along with four of my other friends, went to Annapurna studios. After an initial denial of entrance, and couple of calls to Suma garu, we found ourselves inside the gates of the famed studio.

When we walked up to the building where "Anji" movie shooting was taking place, Ramanaidu garu pulled up in front of the building, with a brand new car with ribbons all around it. He went into the building and came out with Chiru and a crowd of people. Chiru cut the ribbon for the car and took the car for a test drive along with Ramanaidu garu. Some body later told us, that car was the first of its type released in Andhra; Ramanaidu garu took possession of it about an hour back and came to see Chiru immediately since he wanted Chiru to have the first drive of the car for good luck.

Here is where I realized why Chiru is so great, before he cut the ribbon Chiru looked over the crowd straight at us, and told somebody “babu, vallaki kasta chairs veyandayya, nenu ippude vastanu”. Here is the deal, Chiru doesn’t need to acknowledge us, he doesn’t need to even notice me but he did. He remembered a normal person he met briefly more than 15 days earlier. I can probably do that feat if I really try, but I don’t meet a million people everyday, Chiru does. That is exactly why Chiru is who he is, heart throb of millions of fans.

We settled sheepishly into those provided seats, Chiru came and immediately walked into the shooting and when he is done, he came to us, pulled up a chair in front of us, looked at me straight into the eyes and “So now tell me, why you didn’t like Daddy”. My jaw just dropped, he just picked up our conversation exactly where we left it 15 days ago, and in fact I managed to forget the details of our conversation. I replied to him about how our expectations of his movies aren’t being met any more etc. After our conversation, he went back to his shooting, and came back to talk to us again and after a while he got really busy and we just sat there enjoyed every second of this amazing moment in our life.

There are some things I need to mention here, while Chiru was talking to us, Dance master Raju Sundaram was coaching the back ground dancers. Chiru wasn’t even facing them; we could see them practice behind him, since we were facing him. After our conversation, Raju Sundaram garu showed the moves to Chiru once and the shooting started, Chiru did the entire one minute routine with out a hitch. They had to re shoot it a couple of times because couple of dancers messed up and to cover a different angle of the shot. But not once during the entire process did Chiru miss a beat, now, that is amazing. Another thing, the Chiru we talked to is not the same person when he is in front of the camera; with us he is friendly, personable and it almost felt like I am talking to a very close relative of mine, but when he is in front of the camera he is very intense and focused. The difference is like night and day it was unbelievable and awesome. After meeting him and talking to him, I truly realized how great of a human being he is. He is very humble and down to earth, not even for a second did we feel like we are talking to a Mega Star. After 5 years I am going back to India and I wanted to share my story with my fellow idle brains. Also, these days I keep hearing rumors about Chiru’s political entry. I really hope Chiru will never enter politics. Politics will divide his fan base and he will be a target for criticism (NTR is the prime example). Chiru should continue with his charity work and create himself a legacy not just as a great actor but also as a great humanitarian. Chiru don’t need any political power, he already has the power of people. With that please take a look at my memories with Chiru.

Thanks,
Vishnu Vaka.
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