Nani or Rana Daggubati? Pick your favourite for Chiranjeevi’s biopic

No star in Telugu cinema, at least in the last three decades, has cast a spell on this generation of audiences akin to Chiranjeevi. While it may sound repetitive that every second actor or filmmaker these days claim Chiranjeevi as their inspiration to enter cinema, the fact that an industry outsider grew on his own merit and sustained his stardom for over four decades, continues to inspire many.

Nani and Rana Daggubati, who attended the third of musician Smita’s talk show Nijam with Smita on SonyLIV, too shared their admiration for the ‘mega’ star. Smita asked Rana to pick the personality on whom he wishes to do a biopic and the options included Chiranjeevi, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, APJ Abdul Kalam, to name a few. Without batting an eyelid, Rana responded ‘Chiranjeevi!’

“The first name in the list that excited me was Chiranjeevi. It would be huge to tell his story,” Rana said. Cheekily responding to the star’s reply, Nani said he would be better suited to play Chiranjeevi in a biopic than Rana. “Leave that biopic to me. My height is better suited to play his role. Chiranjeevi (garu) has often told me that I remind him of his younger days.”

In the episode, Nani also recollected the occasion where the star met Chiranjeevi at his residence post the release of Shyam Singha Roy (currently streaming on Netflix). “He really liked the film. I grew up idolising him and to have him discuss many nuances of my performance and the story of my film was a special feeling. It’ll always remain memorable.”

While Rana Daggubati was last seen in Virata Parvam, Nani appeared in a guest appearance for Hit 2, the crime thriller, that he co-produced. Besides Dasara, Nani has an untitled father-daughter drama with a debutant and also signed Vivek Athreya’s next action film. He’ll headline the third instalment of Hit as well.