When Chiranjeevi felt ‘humiliated’ and ‘insulted’ upon reaching New Delhi for the National Awards ceremony: ‘Walls celebrated Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, and Amitabh Bachchan, but…’

Megastar Chiranjeevi once revisited a moment from his past that left him deeply disheartened. Despite being one of India’s most celebrated film stars, Chiranjeevi admitted that he felt “insulted” and “humiliated” during a visit to New Delhi in 1989 for the National Awards ceremony.


Chiranjeevi about his National Award receiving ceremony


While his film 'Rudraveena' received the prestigious Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, the experience surrounding the event revealed to him a stark disregard for non-Hindi cinema. Chiranjeevi noted that many bureaucrats seemed to equate Indian cinema exclusively with Hindi films, ignoring the vast contributions from other language industries.


South Indian stars getting less recognition

During a pre-release event for his film Acharya in 2022, the actor shared a vivid memory of being invited to a high tea hosted by the government before the awards ceremony. He remembered walking through a gallery filled with portraits of cinema legends like Prithviraj Kapoor, Raj Kapoor, and Amitabh Bachchan — but with barely any recognition of icons from the South. He continued walking, expecting to see a South Indian star among the pictures, but there were only a few stills of MGR, Jayalalithaa, and Prem Nazir. “They had just given it a title — ‘South Indian’ — nothing more,” he said.

“They titled it as South Films. Just that. They did not recognise stalwarts like Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, N. T. Rama Rao, Nageswara Rao, Sivaji Ganesan, or even the legendary filmmakers of our industries. I felt very humiliated at that moment. It was like an insult. They portrayed Hindi cinema as Indian cinema, while other films were categorised as ‘regional films’ and were not given due respect,” he recalled.


Chiranjeevi's take on Bollywood vs South


In 2024, during a conversation with Rajeev Masand, Chiranjeevi reiterated how upsetting it was to see the dominance of Hindi cinema reflected in the imagery on the walls once again. He added that the success of pan-India films like S. S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali has helped break those barriers, allowing regional cinema to finally receive its due on the national stage.

On the work front, Chiranjeevi is gearing up for the release of socio-fantasy film, 'Vishwambhara' by Mallidi Vassishta. The film stars Trisha Krishnan, Kunal Kapoor, and Ashika Ranganath in key roles. Initially slated for a Sankranthi 2025 release, the film’s launch was postponed first to May and then further delayed due to the extensive and complex VFX work required to bring its fantasy world to life.

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