Megastar Chiranjeevi received the ‘Indian Film Personality of the Year’ award at the closing ceremony of the 53rd International Film Festival held at Goa on Monday.
The GodFather actor was felicitated by the Union I&B Minister Anurag Thakur and Pramod Sawant, Chief Minister of Goa.
Chiru said that he was very sad that there was no photo of a single southern actor in the previous film festival, but now he is happy to receive the award. He thanked IFFI and the government of India.
“This is one of the special awards. I have been waiting for this moment for decades. I feel that it has been given to me at the right time. It has filled me with immense enthusiasm not only for me but also for my fans. I was born in a middle class family. Always be grateful to my parents for giving me birth as Konidela Siva Sankara Vara Prasad and to the film industry which gave birth as Chiranjeevi. Even though I have been in the industry for more than 45 years, there was a brief gap due to politics. By entering politics, I understood the value of cinema. There can be corruption in any field. But not in the film industry. Talent is the only measure here,” Chiranjeevi said.
He further added that he was in doubt at the time of re-entry how the audience would accept me. “But, as always, they showed love to me. I am a slave to their love and will be in the film industry for the rest of my life.”