Chiranjeevi: I felt I belonged to the same age group of Shruti Haasan for Waltair Veerayya

Chiranjeevi reinstated his worth as a crowdpuller yet again this Sankranthi with Waltair Veerayya, the mass entertainer, written and directed by Bobby Kolli. For the star’s fans who were missing his trademark dance moves, comedy, dialogue delivery and action sequences, Waltair Veerayya was a true delight that arrived at the right time and is continuing to put up a good show at the box office.

At the film’s success meet held in Warangal, the star opened up on the painstaking efforts went behind Waltair Veerayya and how he viewed its performance as a collective victory. “The film’s breaking non-SSR (SS Rajamouli) and RRR records and it could’ve been only possible with your love (addressing crowds). I expected it to do well, but the collections have surprised me,” he said.

“While Khaidi made me a star, Waltair Veerayya made Bobby Kolli a star director. He deserves the success for the hard work he has put into it. He has literally carved the film to perfection, working day and night and his efforts have attained fruition with the love of audiences. He was one among my fans a few years ago and after this film, I was his fan,” Chiranjeevi applauded his director.

The key to the film’s success, he shared, was to edit out scenes right at the writing stage and helping the producers. While congratulating team RRR for Naatu Naatu’s Oscar nomination and remembering his son’s career-defining hit Rangasthalam, he hailed Mythri Movie Makers for not compromising on the budget for sets and to shoot sequences with the standard of a Hollywood film.

He praised the music of Devi Sri Prasad, the work ethic and the performances of his co-stars Ravi Teja, Prakash Raj, Shruti Haasan and wished the latter on her birthday on behalf of his scenes. “I felt I belonged to the same age as Shruti Haasan with my enthusiasm. While working with Ravi Teja and enacting the sentimental scenes with him without any glycerine, I was reminded of my brother Pawan Kalyan and it helped me perform with a lot of emotion.”