The frenzy of Telugu film buffs reached a crescendo in both Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and other Telugu communities abroad with the blockbusters of the two superstars Chiranjeevi and Nandamuri Balakrishna hitting the screens on two consecutive days.
A day after Chiranjeevi’s comeback movie Khaidi No 150, the 150th film of his career, created a record of sorts by hitting 1,000 screens, Balakrishna’s 100th film, historic saga Gautamiputra Satakarni, was released in an equal number of screens.
In what turned into a no-holds-barred fight for one-upmanship between the two camps, crazy fans turned every big theatre featuring the film of their favourite hero into a venue of massive celebrations, singing, dancing and bursting crackers.
As this was Chiranjeevi’s first film after a gap of ten years, it was an undoubtedly festive time for his fans and the initial box-office reports show the star has not disappointed them. The actor was last seen in Shankar Dada Zindabad, after which he made a foray into politics, launching political party Praja Rajyam Party in 2009, a move that ended in failure. After he merged his party with Congress, he became a member of Rajya Sabha and a junior minister in United Progressive Alliance before returning to cinema.
In what is being billed as a “clash of titans of Tollywood” during Sankranti festival, Balakrishna chose the story of the seventh Satavahana king to portray a powerful character in his typical style; on a epic scale with war and romance thrown in.
Chiranjeevi’s comeback movie is like his others. Though a politically-correct subject — farmers fight to save their land against corporate sharks — it is wrapped in a package of full of violent fights, melodrama and typical Telugu comedy. As the title suggests, Chiranjeevi is a wronged prisoner framed for taking up the cause of farmers. He breaks out of jail and returns as a far stronger and cleverer hero.
As for the melodrama, in one shot the hero is perched upon a pile of hundred bodies after a valiant fight. Of course he remains unscathed.
On the first day, the film released in 300 theatres in Telangana, 600 in Andhra Pradesh and 100 in Karanataka and Maharashtra apart from many cities in US and the Gulf.
Fans echoed the tagline of the movie “The boss is back”, hoping that this was a start of another long stint in the industry.
His on-screen persona, and his fight scenes, seem to imply he’s still as good as his younger self.
There are many asides to this fight of the two heroes. In an unusual gesture, the governments of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have exempted the Balakrishna movie from entertainment tax on the grounds that it is a historical film on a glorious Telugu king. Balakrishna met the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao personally to bag the sop.
The move evoked a criticism of nepotism and favouritism for AP Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s the actor’s brother-in-law as well as his son Lokesh’s father-in-law. On the top of that, he is also the legislator of Telugu Desam Party.
Gautamiputra Satakarani has evoked a lot of praise from peers and critics, too, with the director SS Rajamouli, of Bahubali fame, terming it an “incredible feat of epic scale”.
“I have to learn many things from the director Krish”, he said.
Another famous director, Ramgopal Verma, tweeted: “Balayya in his 100th film only seems to have become 150 times more Mega advanced interns of great cinema [sic]”, he wrote in an apparent dig at Chiranjeevi and his film.
Whatever be the final verdict, Telugu film buffs could not have asked for more entertainment this Sankranthi.
