The general rejoicing over Chiranjeevi, Andhra Pradesh’s most flamboyant star, getting into active politics takes us back to 1984 – the year when Amitabh Bachchan’s party won the elections. The more obsessive will probably see shades of similarity between Praja Rajyam and the apocryphal Garibon Ki Party. We hope the similarities end there, though.

This being a film column, we’d like to clarify that we are not alluding to Bachchan’s short lived stint as a Congress MP (which began in 1985) but to his role in the film Inquilaab that preceded his entry into active politics by a few months.

It’s fair to say that whatever shape Chiranjeevi’s politics assume, they will be no match for the time when Amar Nath (Amitabh Bachchan) almost became chief minister . Directed by T Rama Rao, Inquilaab is a decidedly odd choice of a role for a man on the verge of entering politics. As one of the last few ‘angry young man’ films, it stands taller than most of its peers for reasons other than its outrageous and controversial conclusion.

Amar Nath is an archetypal 1980s Hindi film hero. He’s forced to work below his station (he sells bhel puri) in spite of that theoretically most powerful of all qualifications: an MA. While some of the plot points like the inability to get a good job without influence seem hopelessly dated , there are copious fight sequences that keep things interesting.

Amar unwittingly becomes the protégé of the leader of the opposition, Shankar Narayan (Kadar Khan). Smarting after having been thrown out of the ruling party on corruption charges, Narayan uses Amar, helping him get a job as a police inspector, to further his own ends. Trapped by both Narayan and his father-in-law (Utpal Dutt), Amar becomes little more than a hired gun. After murdering the infamous smuggler Koya Koya Atachi (Shakti Kapoor), he resigns from the police force and cashes in his equity as encounter specialist to make a foray into politics.

What follows would strictly be getting into spoiler territory but it’s frankly one of the principal reasons to watch the film. On the day he’s supposed to be voted CM, Amar reviews his cabinet (which features a food adulterator in charge of the food portfolio and an illiterate in charge of education among others), whips out a machine gun and shoots every last one of his ministers dead.

It’s a scene of rare cathartic intensity; vastly superior to much smaller scale massacres in the likes of Shool and Rang De Basanti. It also got the film into considerable hot water with the censors around the time of release – the scene as it stands is rumoured to be a sanitised version of a more detailed bloodbath.

Inquilaab is driven by a very convincing performance from Bachchan at a time when he’d played similar roles so often; he could’ve just phoned it in for all anyone cared. Apart from a hilarious cabaret sequence where both Amar and Koya Koya Atachi groove to Disco 84, the other musical highlight is the song Abhimanyu which in spite of some very ham fisted symbolism is one of the most unusual songs in Hindi cinema both in terms lyrics and treatment.

The Telugu film megastar-turned politician Chiranjeevi has bid adieu to the film industry after three decades of association. Chiranjeevi said that he was taking with him the blessings, love and emotion of the entire film industry.

Chiranjeevi shakes hand with actress Ramya Krishnan during the farewell party in Hyderabad on Saturday. — PTIAt a star-studded party, which the Chiranjeevi had thrown to the big-wigs of the tinsel town in Ramanaidu studios here, the star assured his film colleagues that he would not disappoint them. “I am not going to do anything which will make you feel degraded or which will affect your pride. Keep the trust in me. That is my promise”, he said in an emotionally charged voice.

While no film star from politically influential NT Rama Rao family attended the party, the presence of another senior star Mohan Babu came as a big surprise to the observers and the fans.

Another family conspicuous by absence was of veteran actor Krishna.

Nagarjuna and Venkatesh were among the stars who attended the function along with the prominent producers and directors like D. Rama Naidu, Raghvendra Rao, K. Vishwanath, Ashwani Dutt, Rajendra Prasad and Devi Vara Prasad and Kodandarami Reddy.

Chiranjeevi, who will make his last appearance in a forthcoming Telugu film along with his son Atmacharn, has said that he may work in film occasionally if it has some serious social message to convey.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has denied reports that it was planning to have a tie-up with Chiranjeevi’s party. The party said though Chiranjeevi had called up Mr L.K. Advani before the launch of his party, it was just for seeking his blessings. A section of the media had reported that the BJP was keen on having a truck with Chiranjeevi’s party and Mr Advani had called up the actor to reach an understanding.

The state unit spokesperson of the BJP, Mr Prakash Jawadekar, on Tuesday said the actor had called up Mr Advani to seek his blessings on the eve of launching his party. "We welcome Chiranjeevi for calling up Mr Advani and seeking his blessings. It is healthy for the democratic practice in Indian politics. However, no discussions on a tie-up took place. What was reported in a section of the media is incorrect," Mr Jawadekar said.

Some of the state BJP leaders claimed that Chiranjeevi’s party desperately needed the support of the saffron party as it is not in a position to win the elections alone. "It is too early to think of an alliance with Chiranjeevi. Let him come out with his ideas and policies. We are not in a hurry to have a tie up with anybody at this juncture despite the fact that the party wants to strengthen the NDA by inviting more parties in its fold," said Mr N. Indrasena Reddy, the national secretary of the BJP.

According to sources, the BJP is likely to demand more seats in the next elections if Chiranjeevi party comes forward for a tie-up. "Chiranjeevi and Mr Devender Goud have just launched their parties. Both of them are yet to ready their cadre base at the village level. So, they cannot demand for more seats," said a senior leader of the party. "Moreover, Chiranjeevi has not announced his stand on Telangana. It is not so easy to have tie-up with his party unless he supports the Telangana cause," he further added.

The BJP had won four Parliamentary seats in the 1998 elections and 7 in the 1999 elections. However, the leaders argued that the grassroots network of the party was intact though it failed to win seats in 2004. They expect that the party will wrest more seats in the upcoming polls slated fir next year.

Megastar Chiranjeevi who has opened his party office and soon will be jumping into the dirty world of politics has been taking all sorts of spiritual and divine precautionary measures when it comes to his debut but then there are still strong predictions from many astrologers that things are not bright for him until the year 2014.

While Chiru might manage to appeal to the crowd, win votes and perhaps the chair of Chief Minister too but then it is being said that he will not be having a peaceful life from the time he would step into politics. This is what the planetary position has to say about the Megastar.

This has been giving some sort of tensions to the camp of the Megastar and also his household but then Chiru has now entered inside the Padmavyuham and it is next to impossible that he can actually think of coming out of it. So it only goes upon his hard work, vision and strategy now to ensure that his move was not a wrong one after all. Hence he is suffering from inescapable tensions.

Chiranjeevi spoke to media for the first time yesterday in Hyderabad. Some selected Journalists were invited for this meet and Chiru himself disclosed his party details :
1.Chiru is going to announce the party in the third week of August, so it might be announced on 22nd August, birthday of Megastar.

2.Actress Suhasini will be given suitable post in the party.

3.Public meeting will be held in ChinnaThirupathi (Dwaraka Thirumala- it is East Godavari district).

4.Chiru is expecting to win 220 assembly seats in the next elections .

5.Writer Ananth Sreeram is penning all the songs for the party.

6.SP Balu and Mano are rendering their voice for this purpose

7.Alliances with other Parties will depend on public opinion.

8.Decesion on alliances will be taken only after going round the state.

9.Even Telangana issue will be dealt only after State tour.

10.Ready to contest from any assembly seat from 294 seats

11. 70% seats will be given to youth and 30% seats will be given to senior politicians.