I am grateful to Chiranjeevi: Mahesh Bhatt

“Audacity, Auda-city and Audacity; it’s the only thing that can take one through a career in performing arts,” said renowned director Mahesh Bhatt, while speaking at an event in Hyderabad.

“Theatre is a medium which has from time immemorial taken up the cause against any form of intolerance in society. There were times when I had nothing much to do with theatre as such, but the social transformations made me think about this medium and I became a part of the fraternity. Even at the time of the Iraq war, theatre was performed despite many odds and we invited Iraqi journalist Muntazar-el-Zaidi, (the person who became famous for hurling his shoe at former US President George Bush) and staged the play The Last Salute based on his book.

“As far as Hyderabad is concerned, I had long back directed Tollywood actors Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna in the films The Gentleman and Zakhm respectively. In fact I owe a lot of gratitude to Chiranjeevi for having agreed to act in my film at a time when there was hardly any financial support and he graciously donned the role.”