Nijam with Smita: Pawan Kalyan, the actor or the politician? Here’s Chiranjeevi’s preference

Leading OTT platform SonyLIV has come up with a new talk show in Telugu hosted by actress, musician Smita titled Nijam with Smita. Produced under the latter’s own banner, the show’s first episode featuring Waltair Veerayya star Chiranjeevi was out today. The 50-minute episode did a fine job of encapsulating Konidela Siva Sankara Vara Prasad’s growth into a ‘mega star’ of the Telugu states.

In a rapid fire round, Smita posed the star a tricky question on Pawan Kalyan. In response to the question on what comes more naturally to Pawan Kalyan - being an actor or a politician - Chiranjeevi surprisingly chose the latter. “Pawan is a natural is a politician. He’s someone who has cared for the world around him since childhood and is always ready to stand up for justice,” the star said.

“I was once worried if he’d turn a naxal at some point. He also had a fascination for guns, asked me to buy them when I went abroad. He was even caught by the cops for carrying one (it wasn’t an original gun) and freed later,” he added on a light-hearted note. Justifying why Pawan Kalyan is bound to succeed as a politician, he shared, “The kind of support that Pawan Kalyan enjoys is unparalleled. He doesn’t have fans; he has devotees.”

He also stated his younger brother stood out amidst a crowd right from childhood and had unique qualities. “Being the youngest among the brothers, he was very attached to Ram Charan as well. They used to have wild arguments and verbal banters - I called them ‘rakshasa kreeda’. People around me believed they were just goofing around and there was nothing serious about it.”

Meanwhile Chiranjeevi’s latest release, Waltair Veerayya, will stream on Netflix in the last week of February. His next big screen appearance is for Meher Ramesh’s Bholaa Shankar, the Telugu remake of Ajith’s Vedalam.