An old hatchet refuses to be buried. The film land rivalry of Chiranjeevi and Balakrishna refuses to die down. While it was films, fans, songs or dance steps earlier and it has now crept into the political field as well. Balakrishna had taken a jibe at Chiranjeevi saying that parties which have come up with the cause of social cause lack serious commitment.
Chiranjeevi responded to it in a tone of maturity laced with satire. He said, “Balakrisha is a good friend of mine. He is Bala (kid) and I need not respond to kids comments. Earlier, it was Chiranjeevi’s son Ram Charan who irked Balakrishna when he praised Tamil directors and said Tollywood lacks such people. Balakrishna lost temper and said, kids do not know anything and we have great directors. The issued was hushed up with Chiranjeevi telling that Balakrishna is a learned man and his sentiments need to be respected.
Before that during the filmi days, there was lot of competition between the two. Fans and Fan clubs sprouted on a large scale and they were divided mostly on caste lines along the coastal region and in other parts as well. There were celebrations, fist fights, challenges and betting all through their career for nearly 15 years while the two were the leading lights of Tollywood.
The fans were undoubtedly divided on caste lines and slowly the division is blatantly visible in Tollywood as well. When Aswini Dutt filed his nomination for Vijayawada parliament constituency, Chiranjeevi, who was the hero of Dutt’s banner Vyjayanti Movies, was present on the occasion and later beat a hasty retreat.
He gave a statement that he was there to see his producer and he has nothing to do with his political affiliations. Aswini Dutt was the TDP candidate who contested against Lagadapati Rajgopal of Congress and this incident took place in 2004 elections.
The caste equation is still a factor while the rivalry of the two, in the name of fans, is not new. This time around with Chiranjevi joining Congress and Balkrishna bonding up with TDP by giving his daughter Brahmani to Chandrababdu Naidu’s on Lokesh in marriage the rivalry is bound to see more such juicy comments in the coming days.