Chiranjeevi: Audiences can never be wrong

Superstar Chiranjeevi attended the pre-release event of Satyadev and Dhananjaya starrer Zebra on Tuesday. Talking about the current trend of small-budget films turning blockbusters, he reflected about the post-pandemic thinking in the industry. 

“Recently after the pandemic, many industries around the world got shaken. During such times, we were worried what would happen to the film industry. As we observed, people got hooked onto OTT content. That made audiences exposed to lot of content. Because of that, there were conclusions drawn that audiences won’t come to the theatres unless it’s an event film or a big budget one. This made us worry about the industry’s future,” he remembered.

Chiranjeevi talked about how many smaller-budget films created furors at the box office in 2024. “But for me recently, there happened a revelation. All of these theories are not right. Audiences can never be wrong. If at all a film doesn’t run, it’s always us who need to be blamed, not the audiences. As an example to that, in 2024, many small and big-budget films created impact at the box office. Starting from Prasanth Varma’s HanuMan and other smaller budget films like Committee Kurrollu, Aay, Tillu Square, Mathu Vadalara 2, Lucky Baskhar, people loved these films and made them blockbusters. There weren’t any big names behind these films, but they were hailed only because of the content in the films,” he said. 

Talking about Satyadev, he declared, “I have two brothers, but Satyadev is my third brother. The kind of love he showers is sincere. The moment I saw him, he is honest and kind. In the pandemic, I watched Bluffmaster, I noticed his intense performance and loved the richness in his voice. I met him. He took special permission during pandemic times and met me. I want the best films for him. That’s why I chose him for the antagonist role in Godfather.” He concluded the speech on a humorous note and wished the team well. 

Zebra got its trailer at the same event. The trailer depicts Satyadev as a bank employee who runs a scam to take care of his family when things go wrong, pitting against a powerful character, Dali, played by Dhananjaya. The film is set to pit wealth chasers against wealth creators in a hilarious presentation. Zebra is directed by Easvar Karthic, while it is backed by SN Reddy, S Padmaja, Bala Sundaram, and Dinesh Sundaram under the banners of Padmaja Films Private Ltd and Old Town Pictures. 

Zebra’s technical crew has music by Ravi Basrur, of KGF fame, which is a huge reason for the film’s buzz.  The film has Satya Ponmar who cranked the camera while Anil Krish took care of editing. The heist thriller is coming to screens on November 22 in a major pan-Indian languages.