Chiranjeevi Profile

Chiranjeevi Profile

About Chiranjeevi (Biography & Trivia)

Konidela Siva Sankara Vara Prasad is the eldest son of Late Sri Venkat Rao and Smt Anjana Devi. He was born on 22 August 1955 in Narsapur, a Town on the Banks of River Godavari in the West Godavari District in Andhra Pradesh. He spent his childhood in his native village with his grand parents, while his family was else where because of his father’s occupation. He has two sisters and two brothers; his younger brother, Nagendra Babu is a film producer and a film actor, his youngest brother, Pawan Kalyan is also a Telugu film actor.

Varaprasad did his schooling in Nidadavolu, Gurajala, Ponnuru, Mangalagiri and Mogalturu. He won many prizes for his acting skills in school, especially for the performance as Parandamayya Panthulu. After high school he joined Bi.P.C in C.S.R.Sharma Jr. College at Ongole. Following that he finished his BCOM from Y.N. College in Narasapur.

Personal life

Chiranjeevi tied the wedding knot to Surekha, daughter of eminent yesteryear comedian Allu Rama Lingaiah, on February 20, 1980. He has 3 children, eldest daughter Sushma, son Ram Charan Tej and youngest daughter Sreeja.

Career

Chiranjeevi was called by different names at different stages in his life. At high school level, he was called KSSV Prasad. During his college days, he was called Prasad. At home, he was called ‘Sankara Babu’.

Varaprasad felt that his name ‘Sankar’ would not be appealing to the people. He had a dream one night in which lord hanuman called him as Chiranjeevi. Then he narrated the same incident to his mother and she advised him to change his screen name to Chiranjeevi. He is also a great devotee of Lord Hanuman and hence he changed his name to Chiranjeevi which in Hindu mythology refers to Lord Hanuman

Awards and Honours

CHIRANJEEVI RECEIVING PADMA BHUSHAN Award from PRESIDENT ABDUL KALAM In January 2006, Mr Chiranjeevi was honored with the Padma Bhushan, the third highest civilian award in India. In November 2006, Chiranjeevi was awarded with a honorary doctorate by Andhra University for his services to the Telugu film industry and for his social work, A P Govt Nandi Awards for Swayankrushi (1987) and Apatbandhavudu (1992). Over 10 Filmfare Awards won.

Charitable Trust

Chiranjeevi, in october 1998, founded the Chiranjeevi Charitable Trust(CCT). This trust includes Chiranjeevi Eye bank and Blood banks. It is the largest Blood and Eye bank in the state Andhra Pradesh. So far around 3.5 lakh people have pledged their eyes to CCT so far, giving 1600 people eye sight through CCT. CCT has also won the “Best Voluntary Blood Bank Award” by the AP State Government for the past 4 years.Recently chiranjeevi charitable trust has reached one more landmark by crossing the one lakh mark in collecting the blood and more than 96,000 people were helped with blood by this blood bank.

Political Life

Chiranjeevi’s foray into politics was highly anticipated in the media and political circles since 2007. While it was reported that he was seeking opinion of people during the latter half of 2007, the media also suggested that he would announce the decision in January 2008. Even before the party’s launch, several political leaders from the Andhra Pradesh such as Harirama Jogaiah from Congress Party and K. Vidyadhar Rao and B. Nagi Reddy from the Telugu Desam Party openly declared that they would join hands with Chiranjeevi.

Chiranjeevi inaugurated his party office in Jubilee Hills,Hyderabad on August 10, 2008. Speaking to the media after the inauguration, Chiranjeevi said, “I would like to extend my condolences to the families who lost their beloved ones in the incessant rains that occurred in the past 3 three days”. He also added, “ I request all my supporters to extend their help to the people who are in need. I would be announcing my party and its agenda this month. I will be answering all the questions posed by the media on that day.”

On August 17, 2008 Chiranjeevi has addressed a press conference in his party office to announce his entry into politics. He told that he was inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Ambedkar N.T.Rama Rao Garu Mahatma Jyotirao Phule. Chiranjeevi has announced that a public meeting will be conducted in Tirupati on Aug 26, 2008 which falls on Mother Theresa’s birthday. He told that the details of his party and future plan will be declared then.

On August 26, 2008 in the public meeting held at Avilala near Tirupati, he announced the party name as Praja Rajyam saying the Rajyam (Rule) belongs to Praja (People). He said his ambition is to empower people to rule themselves. He said he wishes to see “Santhosh’s Andhra pradesh”, which means “Happy Andhra Pradesh”. He unveiled the party flag in this meeting, which comes White and Green colours in it with a symbol of red coloured Sun in the middle.

The new political entrant in Andhra Pradesh Chiranjeevi has decided to show his body strength to his political rivals. He will set his balls rolling for his maiden political yatra from the north coastal Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh on October 10.