Mohan Babu, Chiranjeevi trade pokes at the launch of Shatrughan Sinha's biography
Meanwhile, at book launch, Mohan Babu and Chiranjeevi had trouble deciding who was a bigger friend of Shatrughan Sinha.
Chiranjeevi, who said that he got into acting because of Shatrughan, fired off one of his colleague’s famous dialogues. “Bandook haath mein lekar geedarh bhi sher ban jayega, Heera”, followed by the signature phrase — “Khamosh”.
Shatrughan’s book also mentions how South superstars Rajinikanth, Ambareesh and Chiranjeevi looked up to him for inspiration.
Explaining that point, Chiranjeevi said, “During my childhood, people used to say that I resembled Shatrughan Sinha. I also used to mimic many of his lines. In Rampur Ka Lakshman there is a particular scene where Shatrughan punches a guy and then checks if his watch is working. Such gimmicks used to impress us.”
But after Mohan Babu revealed how Shatrughan, Rajinikanth, Ambareesh and he had been great friends, Chiranjeevi, on a lighter note added, “How did you miss my name? You’ve been giving an impression that only you are close to Shatruji. He comes to my home, sits by the pool and says what a lovely home I have.”
He added, “Even I started my career as a villain and then turned hero, just like Shatruji. Even he appealed to the mass audiences. He had a successful political career and even I got to be the Tourism minister. When you take inspiration from someone, you unknowingly take a similar path.”
Shatrughan has been to the city numerous times and admits that “Hyderabad has a magical quality” and he has come here so often that “it’s now a part of his life”.
He has also acted in a few Telugu movies and said that he loved Tollywood and the Telugu people and would love to work here again someday.
When asked why the book took seven years, author of the book, Bharathi said, “That is because he has a life which covers two worlds — personal and professional. When we started the book, BJP was not in power and now they are. A lot has changed. We then finally decided that the Bihar polls would be our deadline.”
