Chiranjeevi wishes Amitabh Bachchan on his 80th birthday, calls him ‘the Everest’ among artists

It’s unfair to call Amitabh Bachchan a Hindi star alone, given how his influence changed the idea of mainstream cinema in the 70s and 80s. The Telugu cinema narrative had transformed with the impact he’d created and even the likes of Telugu stars NTR, Krishna had to follow suit and adapt with the times. As he turns 80 today, Telugu star Chiranjeevi had a memorable message for him.

Addressing Amitabh as his beloved ‘Guru ji’, he prayed for his good health, strength and hoped all his wishes get fulfilled. “You are the Everest among us artists. We are in eternal awe of your talent and your accomplishments. More power to you Amit ji!” Chiranjeevi has always had high words of praise for Big B and has consistently labelled him as an inspiration across many interviews.

It was this goodwill and friendship that also helped Chiranjeevi rope in Amitabh to star in his only Telugu film - Sye Raa Narasimha Reddy - a few years ago. While Chiranjeevi essayed the titular character, Amitabh played the role of his guru Gosayi Venkanna. While the film didn’t perform as well as it was expected to, it was a long-time dream for Chiranjeevi to tell the story of Narasimha Reddy.

A special film festival is being organised across the country, re-releasing Bachchan’s iconic films like Don, Deewar, Kaalia, Mili, Chupke Chupke, Muqaddar Ka Sikandar, Amar Akbar Anthony to name a few. Hyderabad is among the 17 cities where the films are being screened and the shows being held since the last weekend are running to packed houses.

Meanwhile, Chiranjeevi was recently in the news for Godfather, his Telugu remake of the Malayalam hit Lucifer, where he co-starred Nayanthara, Salman Khan and Satyadev Kancharana. The film opened to good numbers at the box office across the globe but needs to put up an impressive show over the weekdays to remain a profitable venture for the producers.