Chiru...the eternal hero

The megastar of Telugu films Chiranjeevi recently completed 29 years of his film career. A function was organized to celebrate the occasion wherein his friend and another Telugu star Nagarjuna was present. Being one of the superstar’s quartet, (Amitabh Bachchan, Mohanlal and Rajinikant comprises other three in this club) Chiru, as he is fondly called by his fans, is undoubtedly the most prominent figure of the Indian movies. The word Chiranjeevi in Sanskrit means 'one who live on eternally.' Chiranjeevi's feats on screen and in movies make him really live eternally in the mind of the viewers.
Chiranjeevi was as Siva Sankara Vara Prasad Konidela, on 22 August 1955 at Narasapur, Andhra Pradesh, India
He was a student of the famous Madras Film Institute and later became a professional film star. His first public performance was in a government parade ballet at the Republic Day celebrations on January 26, 1976.
He started his professional career the film "Punadhirallu" in 1978. Though Punadhirallu was his debut, his first success came up with a negative role in the film 'Intilo Ramayya Vidhilo Krishnayya' which was released in the year 1981.
His roles in movies such as Abilasha, Adavidonga, Chantabbayi, Challenge, Gang Leader, Master, Kondaveeti Donga, Kodama Simham, Indra, Tagore etc. were all block busters in Tollywood. In the pre-90s, Chiranjeevi was first seen on Hindi scree. His first Hindi film released was Pratibandh (1990) with Juhi Chawla as his heroine. The films was a blockbuster and Rami Reddy, the main villain in the films also received much attention in the film. The success of Pratibandh prompted producers to make another movie with Ciranjeevi, exploiting his macho man and angry young man image. This films ‘Aaj Ka Gundaraj’ (1992) was a remake of Telugu hit Gang Leader. Meenakshi Sheshadri was the heroine in the film. As this movie minted money on the Box Office, Chiranjeevi’s popularity also soared.
Though his subsequent films could not recreate the magic that is Chiranjeevi is known for, his charisma as an actor remains in place as is shown by the number of dubbed movies. These movies appear in small cities and run to packed houses as well as in CDs and DVDs which have a good run on Cable cicuit. Besides Telugu, Chiranjeevi commande a huge fan following in Tamilnadu also.
He is married to Konidela Surekha on February 20, 1980 and is blessed with two daughters Susmita and Sirija, and one son Ramcharan Teja. His brothers Nagendra Babu and Pawan Kalyan are both into movies as well.
Chiranjeevi is the founder of the Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust, which is the state's largest recipient of Eye and Blood Donations. With the help of Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust more than 20,000 people have donated blood and more than 10 lakh people have pledged their eyes. Chiranjeevi also assists people for medical expenses in genuine cases.