Pawan Kalyan turns 49: From a martial artist to an ardent admirer of Che Guevara, riveting facts of Power Star

In 1996, when Pawan Kalyan made his acting debut with Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi, he was merely recognised as Megastar Chiranjeevi’s younger brother. However, in a short span of time, the slim lad established his own credibility and went on to earn a demigod status among the Telugu-speaking audience with his style, swag and mannerisms. In a roller-coaster career spanning for over two decades, Pawan played the protagonist in 25 films and donned multiple hats of a director, producer, stunt coordinator, playback singer, choreographer and story/screenplay writer.

Utilising his unmatchable style, unique mannerisms, energetic acting and funky dance moves, he struck the right chord with the masses and courtesy the seven superhits on the trot, he turned into the reigning superstar of Telugu cinema in no time. Popularly known by his sobriquet ‘Power Star’, Pawan Kalyan is famous for his blockbuster films like Tholi Prema, Thammadu, Badri, Kushi, Gabbar Singh and Attarintiki Daredi. As he is turning 49 on Wednesday, check out some riveting facts about him.

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Not many know that the original name of PK is Konidela Kalyan Babu. While organising a martial arts event to showcase his skills in Karate, he took up the stage name of Pawan and eventually, he began to like it and continued the same. Initially, his true interest has been into gardening, politics and direction. However, Chiranjeevi’s wife Surekha persuaded him to become an actor and encouraged a lot.

Pawan Kalyan is a trained martial artist and holds a black-belt in Karate. He also worked as stunt coordinator-cum-hero for many of his films like ‘Kushi’, ‘Teen Maar’, ‘Badri’ and ‘Johnny’. One can witness some of his real, breathtaking stunts during a particular sequence in ‘Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi’.

Following his hat-trick blockbusters ‘Thammudu’, ‘Badri’ and ‘Kushi’, several multinational companies queued before Pawan to get their products promoted. In the process, the ‘Vakeel Saab’ actor became one among first South Indian actors to endorse a popular cola brand. Surprisingly, during that time, his brother Chiranjeevi was promoting the rival brand in the segment. However, after this ad campaign, Pawan decided not to promote any brand despite crores of remuneration in the offering.

On numerous occasions, Pawan Kalyan confessed that he was greatly influenced by the films of legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa. He also named his son after the influential filmmaker in the history of world cinema. Pawan is also an ardent admirer of Argentinian revolutionary leader Che Guevara. He stated that after reading about Che’s life during his Intermediate days in Nellore, the impact and the presence of the guerrilla leader seeped into his life.

According to Google, Pawan Kalyan was the most searched Indian celebrity politician during the 2014 General Election. Meanwhile, after the monstrous success of Kushi in 2001, the market value of Pawan reached sky-high with producers offering him crores of remuneration. However, at this crucial juncture, he surprised everyone by opting for a two-year break and worked on his own script. Though his maiden directorial Johnny failed to work on the commercial front, the action-drama was critically acclaimed for its dark screenplay and realistic action sequences.

Speaking about his directorial experience, Pawan Kalyan said “I know failures are quite common in a creative field like cinema. However, during the shooting phase of Johnny itself, I knew that I was not staying true to the original script. I tried to exceed the length of the film by adding some needed ingredients and it eventually led to a failure. I expected this during the shooting itself.”