Chiranjeevi is an famous Indian actor, producer, and also known as a politician. He was born on 22nd August 1955 in Mogalthur, West Godavari, Andhra Pradesh, India. Chiranjeevi will be a part of the new upcoming Indian movie Vishwambara (2025). He is the father of an Indian famous actor and producer Ram Charan.
In 1978, Chiranjeevi started his career in the Film Industry. During his first movie Punadhirallu, his family thought few screen names like KSSV Prasad, Vara Prasad, Siva Shankar, and Shankar Babu. Before going on the sets of “Punadhirallu”, he got a dream the previous night that he was in an Anjaneya Swamy Temple, where his friends called ‘Chiranjeevi’.
And then Chiru told this dream to his mother. His mother Anjana Devi said that ‘Chiranjeevi’ is the other name ‘Lord Hanuman’ and expressed interest to go ahead with the name. As his family worships God Anjaneya a lot, he changed his screen name to Chiranjeevi.
Chiru made his acting debut with the “Punadhirallu” movie, though it didn’t release as his first film. Interestingly, his second film “Pranam Khareedu” has released as his first movie on 22 September 1978.
In 1983, with the massive success of the ‘Khaidi’ movie at the box office, Chiranjeevi attained stardom in Telugu Film Industry. In 1987, He was the first actor from South India to be invited to the Oscars ceremony.
He started the Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust (CCT), which includes Chiranjeevi Blood and Eye Banks in In 1998. Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust has also won the ‘Best Voluntary Blood Bank Award’ by the Andhra Pradesh Government for 5 consecutive years from 2002 -2007.
In 2002, he was awarded the Samman award for the highest Income taxpayer for the assessment year 1999-2000 by the minister of state for Finance, Government of India.
In 2006, Abdul Kalam (then President of India), inaugurated the Chiranjeevi Charitable Foundation (CCF) at the Jubilee Hills Check Post in Hyderabad, Telangana. He was honored with the Padma Bhushan for his contribution to Indian cinema in 2006.
In 2015, Chiranjeevi made his comeback with the Telugu remake of the highly successful Tamil film Kaththi. In 2017, V. V. Vinayak’s Khaidi No. 150 remake, following Shankar Dada Zindabad for 6 months, was released during the Sankranti holiday to positive reviews. After a decade of being absent from cinema, critics have praised Chiranjeevi for his performance and appearance in particular.
A movie with a lifetime budget of 164 crores collected 41.75 crores on opening day and 164 crores in total. He starred in Surender Reddy’s first-period film Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy, based on the life of Uyyalawada Narasimha Reddy, which was released in 2019.
In its theatrical run, the movie grossed more than 240 crores (equivalent to $286 crores or US$36 million in 2020). Chiranjeevi’s last film Acharya was directed by Koratala Siva, and the upcoming GodFather is scheduled for release soon.
Chiranjeevi made his debut as a Television host with the fourth season of Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu. The first episode of the fourth season was aired on 13 February 2017 on Star Maa. The game show is a Telugu-language adaptation of Kaun Banega Crorepati.
Chiranjeevi married Surekha, the wife of Telugu comic actor Allu Ramalingaiah. They have two daughters, Sushmitha and Sreeja, and a son, Ram Charan, also a Telugu actor.
Nagendra Babu, Chiranjeevi’s younger brother, is a film producer and actor. His youngest brother, Pawan Kalyan, founded Jana Sena, a regional political party.
His brother-in-law, Allu Aravind, is a film producer. The actors Allu Arjun, Allu Sirish, Varun Tej, Niharika, Sai Dharam Tej, and Panja Vaisshnav Tej are all uncles of Chiranjeevi
