It was the 2002 superhit Telugu film `Indra' that first gave broad hints that Chiranjeevi was getting ready for a political innings.

In his film `Tagore', the megastar, was a crusader against corruption and projected as a man of the masses, a potential leader with a heart of gold.

Chiranjeevi is trying to do an N T Rama Rao who formed his Telugu Desam in 1982 and became Chief Minister a year later.

NTR, by virtue of having played Rama and Krishna on the big screen, was quite easily accepted as a political God by the Telugus. Chiranjeevi started as a villain on screen and eventually turned into a mass hero, a man of action.

After 30 years of donning the greasepaint, Chiranjeevi is now trying to carefully script a new career.

There may be no one overtly directing him, but the cameras will continue to be trained on him.

The actor who is one of the best dancers in Indian cinema, would hope he is not out of step in the murky cesspool of Indian politics.