What Chiru needs to know

You are the biggest star in the present film industry. Your voice is an order for many people. You are a brand, sorry a God for many. Your followers are crazy about you and would kill or die for you without a thought. But does that mean you can afford to be complacent? Act as if you don't care? My answer is NO.

This is where Chiru seems to be lacking. He is a good actor, kicking all the goons and saving the world, helping the poor on the screen, a few activities off it like the blood bank, eye bank and CSR. But all said and done Chiru's 'Praja Rajyam' is quite new and needs a lot of care, effort, marketing to succeed. And you need to stay clear of any unnecessary controversy and tiff off any wrong people. Agreed Chiru has an aura and clean slate but if you mess up with your image you cannot build it back so easily. If you want people to respect you, you need to earn it not command it. If you want people to look up to you, show them that you care. Don't expect that everyone around you works just like the most fanatic fan you have ever seen.

A wrong action, word, look can spoil the whole relationship be it in business, politics or any thing else. All your hard work would be reduced to a castle of cards in a strong storm. Ensure you pick the right people to work for you so that they don't mess up with your image, hurt sentiments, emotions and feelings. After all are we not emotional.

Chiru needs to win people's hearts, love and affection more than respect and adoration. This isn't the reel world anymore. Here people react and make or break you.

Flowers vs Eggs

Not long ago he was being regarded as the unparalleled king of Tollywood and called Megastar! He got a royal welcome, garlands and fans ready to donate blood for him. But when you come into real world off the reel all you get is mud-slinging and eggs like this one here. Chiru was hit with eggs in a public rally. Was this a publicity stunt by the party? or by the people who did it?

What should Chiru do? Like the last movie in which he followed Gandhigiri(remake of Munnabhai II), this time he distributed eggs to the people in the rally. Good going, Chiru.

Pic: www.Eenadu.net

Politics and branding

The political arena is getting hotter these days with elections just around the corner in India. Many brands have started to pick up this issue and mould their communique to correspond to the changing principles and beliefs. Some have realigned their traditional support to play safe lest they lose any patronage from the rival parties. In Andhra Pradesh where Chiranjeevi has launched his own party, Praja Rajyam, the few brands he endorses seem to be a hurry to stay clear of him and his affiliation.

Chiranjeevi is a popular movie star referred to as the Megastar of Tollywood. He had inspired people to resonate him with the Thumps Up brand. He rarely does any advertisements for brands and is very careful with his selection but he had to yield to Thumps Up(which has about 31% of all the soft drink market in India) and Navratna oil as the proceeds were going to fund a social cause. Now the scene is different as he has a political party and yearns to be the next chief minister, it is obvious that opposition parties and non sympathizers would stay hostile to the brands that he endorses. At the same time Chiru has a huge fan base and they may turn hostile to Thumps Up too if it dumps Chiru.

Now is a tough situation to the brand to stay clear of the problem. Thumps Up now chose a non controversial, neutral star and is airing more ads by Mahesh Babu who has made his own image in the industry. Seems people are buying the tactic. Mahesh seems to be replacing the image of Chiru when it comes to Thumps Up. Well Thumbs Up then.

Remix Tollywood

Chiru in Gharana Mogudu

Many songs have been remixed with youngsters wearing short clothes and doing steps dangerously short of sex. But some good ones have come as well. The latest is Chiru's ultimate performance in Gharana Mogudu. Chiru is all set to shake is leg again in the same Vizag port in his son Ram Charan Tej's new film as a guest appearance. Lets see if he can spin back the magic.

Lessons from Chiru

Shift the focus!

Though his fans were expecting that he would launch the party on his birthday, he preferred to do it on the birth anniversary of Mother Teresa.

The actor told his maiden press conference on Sunday that he was inspired by Mother Teresa, who dedicated her life to serve the needy.

Chiru, who has been acting in films for 30 years, was already engaged in social service and runs a blood and eye bank here. As he dons a new role, his fans are eagerly waiting to see him as the next Andhra Pradesh chief minister.

Yuvagarjana?

Telugu Desam party is organizing Yuvagarjana to kick start its election campaign at Guntur today. For the first time in the last 9 years Chandrababu Naidu has moved from the center of the poster to the corner. Lets see if this would bring back the voter base which moved away from them during the last elections. NTR is brought in to rescue the party from being in the opposition. Lets see if this works.

The crowd is expected to be more than 15 lakhs as it should beat the (14 lakh) crowds that Chiru drew at Titupathi when launching his party. Hundreds of workers are working overtime to build welcome boards, banners, cut-outs and barricades on the way to (ground in front of) Acharya Nagarjuna University where the meeting is being held. This might be a make or break meeting for the TDP.

Who's the CM of AP?

Sridhar's cartoon on Eenadu has the right depiction. All the three main contenders to the post of CM of Andhra Pradesh are waiting for the results in a few hours. Dr. Rajasekhar Reddy of Congress is hoping to be voted back to power based on the good work he has done n the last tenure. His record and policies have touched the people. The greatest success should be the Arogyasree program which ensured thousands of people availing free treatment. Chandrababu Naidu of Telugu Desam Party, once called the CEO of AP, is playing the money exchange scheme and free color TV card and is hoping a chance at holding reins of the now economically sound state. Sentiments among most people is that he will do a good job in current recessional times as he has a proven record of creating jobs and giving the IT coating to Hyderabad and AP. Chiranjeevi or Megastar, as he is known, of Praja Rajyam is playing on samajikanyayam card by which he wants to establish a common good in the state with equal opportunities to all segments. His appeal is to give him one chance to replicate what he does best on the screen. Bash up bad people and help the poor.

I spoke to few people as to whom they voted for and got diverse reviews and opinions. The sentiment is not that anti incumbent but the figures are expected to point towards a hung verdict. So whoever succeeds in making an alliance would be the CM. This shows the divide of mandate and opinion. Consumer choice of the public servant (s)he would like to choose is divided. Lets see how the new comer Chiru would fare.

Chiru's campaign

Will all this adulation turn into votes?