Chiranjeevi, The Mega Star Who Never Stops At Anything To Please Fans

If things had worked out well, Puri would have been directing Chiru’s 150th. Well, they didn’t. Previously it was announced by the director himself that he will be directing Chiru’s 150th film but later things changed. Chiranjeevi was unhappy with the plot of the film which was tentatively titled as ‘Auto Johnny’. The fallout resulted in a ​disturbance between Chiru and Puri as the issue went to media. Even departments of the script and story had issues, rumours surfaced on the world web that writer BVS Ravi had stolen the story from another writer named Vasu Dev Varma. As known, BVS Ravi was said to have penned the script for Chiru's come back movie. However, this venture with Puri did not go further. This marks the first controversy of Chiru’s 150th movie.

Finalizing a story for the 150th film was quite a quest for Megastar. After listening to many scripts from different directors, he has finalised the story of Tamil super hit movie Kaththi. Kaththi was directed by A.R. Murugadoss starring Vijay, which turned out to be a big hit. There has been quite a buzz about who will helm the film. After much ado, Chiru gave the chance to V. V. Vinayak to steer the flick. It is being produced under Chiru’s own banner Konidela Production Company, which is headed by his son Ram Charan.

When the film Kaththi was released in Tamil under A.R Murugadoss’ direction, writer Narasimha​ Rao complained that 80 percent of the story is similar to a story penned by him. He reported the issue to United Forum of Telugu Film Directors that has former Union Minister Dasari Narayana Rao as Chairman. The Forum had written to the Andhra Pradesh Film Chamber of Commerce that has producer D. Suresh Babu as its President, seeking its help to ostracise Mr. Murugadoss.

When Chiranjeevi decided to remake Kaththi film in Telugu, the controversy of Narasimha Rao resurfaced. Upon learning about the remake, Narasimha Rao approached AP Film Industry Employees Federation again to help him in the issue. Narasimha Rao said that ​he would not allow the shooting to continue unless he is given credits for the story. The issue was settled after V. V. Vinayak assured him that his issue would be settled in a just manner.

There have been rumours all over online since the time the concept of Chiru’s 150th movie was out. Several titles have been floating online. ‘Katthilantodu’ was one of the titles which became very popular and all the media platforms almost confirmed it. But Ram Charan, the producer of the film on his live chat on Facebook has said that it is not the title of the film and the final title will be announced sometime in August. Later the title ‘Napolean’ grabbed the attention and it was believed to be the final title until another small budget movie was announced ‘Napolean’ as their title. Like other aspects of the movie, the title also has gone through a lot of transitions and finally ‘Khaidi No.150’ has been confirmed as the title.

When the ​movie was announced, almost all the leading actresses were eagerly waiting for the opportunity to act opposite the iconic actor. Nargis Fakhri, Nayantara, Anushka Shetty, these are some of the names that were considered. Since Anushka has got a good personality, it was rumoured that she was confirmed to do the role. There were also several reports that makers approached Kajal Aggarwal to act opposite Chiru but that was also said to be a rumour. However, the rumour proved to be true as Kajal Aggarwal bagged the opportunity to act next to the Mega Star.

Ram Gopal Varma is synonymous with the word controversy. RGV took the pains to comment on Chiru’s 150th film. He opined that Chiranjeevi turning into a ​director with his milestone project makes it a Baahubali among his films else it will end up as just another flick. This has created a lot of confusion that Chiru will wield the megaphone for the movie but once VV Vinayak took over the project, the rumours were silenced.

D​irector Kodandarami Reddy in one of his interviews with a news channel made offensive comments regarding the 150th movie of Chiranjeevi. He stated that no one would be interested in watching the flick if Chiru does a message oriented film and advised that he should do a commercial film to save his fame. For these comments, Reddy received flak from scores of Mega fans. However, Reddy later realized his mistake and apologized to Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan for his comments on the movie and also asked the media house to publish the same.

Though there were so many critics and controversies, nothing could stop Mega Star’s 150th venture. After so many efforts the movie has been successfully launched on 29th April. The movie is finally titled as ‘Khaidi No.150’, which is the first venture of Konidala Production Company. Khaidi No.150 is the official remake of the ‘Kaththi’ and it is a message oriented film. Devi Sri Prasad is composing the music for the film and Rathnavelu is handling the cinematography. Kajal Aggarwal is playing the female lead opposite Chiranjeevi. Mega Star will be seen sporting dual role in the movie, one as a serious cop and the other, a petty criminal. Bollywood actor Tarun Arora is playing the antagonist in the movie.