Superstar Rajinikanth wishes Chandrababu Naidu best, recalls his fascination for NTR

VIJAYAWADA: Superstar Rajinikanth has wished that Telugu Desam supremo N Chandrababu Naidu be blessed with the strength and energy to implement his Vision 2047 to make Andhra Pradesh the best not only in India, but across the globe.

Addressing NTR’s 100 Years celebrations at Poranki Anumolu Gardens in Vijayawada on Thursday, “Thalaiva” Rajnikanth showered encomiums on Naidu and his leadership. He credited Naidu with the development of information technology and HITEC city in Hyderabad. He recalled the Vision 2020 Naidu had talked about in 1996-97 and how he had visualised the growth of IT and digital technologies.

Rajinikanth tried to be politically correct by saying “Now Chandrashekar Rao garu (Telangana Chief Minister KCR) is doing the best for Hyderabad.

Going down the memory lane, Rajinikanth said he was introduced to Naidu by actor Mohan Babu who had said he (Naidu) would become a great leader. “Chandrababu Naidu has been my friend for 30 years. He greets me on every birthday wherever I am in the world. He used to discuss with me his ideas and vision. He always obliged me and granted me appointments whenever I visited Hyderabad. Now he has some time with him as he’s the leader of the opposition. He used this time for drawing up Vision-2047. I wish him all the best to implement that.”

Recalling his first brush with the legendary superstar N T Rama Rao, the “Thalaiva” said that he had watched NTR-starter Pathala Bhairavi. He was damn impressed by the physique of the Goddess Bhairavi in the movie. He later watched NTR’s ‘Srikrishna Pandaveeyam’ and began imitating him donning the role of Duryodhana in competitions when he had worked as a bus conductor. Enthused by his friends, he had taken to the tinsel world. He became a small time actor and went on to become a hero. He had recalled that he had first seen NTR along with Anjali Devi in the silver jubilee (25 weeks) celebration of the mythological movie “Lavakusa” at Minerva Theatre in Madras (now Chennai).

Rajnikanth had donned the role of a sidekick to NTR in a movie named ‘Tiger’ in 1977. He recalled how NTR had sped past him when the shoot was being done from a moving trolley. “NTR had told me to move with great speed in the shot. I smiled while saying to myself Rajinikanth means speed and speed means Rajinikanth and why he was being told about speed. But when NTR sped past me, I was surprised with what energy he had acted in.”

The Tamil Superstar also recalled how disciplined NTR was on the sets and how punctual he was.

Rajinikanth recalled the “resounding victory of the Telugu Desam Party in 1983, barely nine months after launching the party, taking on the mighty Indira Gandhi who was akin to the present day’s Narendra Modi or even more. I jumped out of sheer ecstasy.”

As if he was briefed before, the superstar said that NTR had acknowledged the contribution of Ramoji Rao’s media in his (NTR’s) huge victory after visiting the “Ramoji Film City” which was under construction in 1992. Why Ramoji Rao’s topic was brought up is anybody’s guess. Rajinikanth also had a word of praise for Nandamuri Balakrishna recalling his famous punch dialogues.