Chiranjeevi (born Konidala Siva Sankara Vara Prasad on 22 August 1955) is an Indian film actor, producer, politician and a member of the Indian National Congress. He is the Minister of State with independent charge for Ministry of Tourism, Government of India. Prior to politics, Chiranjeevi has worked primarily in Telugu Cinema including Tamil, Kannada and Hindi films. He made his acting debut in 1978 through the film Punadhirallu. However, Pranam Khareedu released earlier at the box office.
Owing to his box-office appeal, popular entertainment magazines, Filmfare, and India Today quoted him "Bigger than Bachchan", a reference to Bollywood's Amitabh Bachchan. In 1987, He became the first south Indian actor to be invited at the 59th Academy Awards ceremony.News magazine The Week hailed him as "The new money machine". Gharana Mogudu, the blockbuster movie was the first Telugu film to gross over 100 million rupees at the box office. The film made Chiranjeevi the highest paid actor in India, of the time, catapulting him to hit the cover pages of noted national weekly magazines in India. In 2002, Chiranjeevi was felicitated with Samman Award for the Highest Income Tax Payer for the assessment year 1999-2000 by the Minister of State for Finance, Government of India
In 2013, He inaugurated the Incredible India Exhibition, a joint participation of the Ministry of Tourism and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting at the 66th Cannes Film Festival. He represented Incredible India at the 14th International Indian Film Academy Awards ceremony held at Macau.
In a film career spanning more than thirty years, Chiranjeevi was starred in 149 feature films. In 1988, along with his brother Nagendra Babu, he co-produced Rudraveena, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration. He has won four state Nandi Awards and ten Filmfare Awards South. Chiranjeevi was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, for his contributions towards Indian cinema. In 2006, he was presented an honorary doctorate from Andhra University. In 2013, IBN LIVE named him as one of "The men who changed the face of the Indian Cinema".
Chiranjeevi founded the Chiranjeevi Charitable Foundation, established in 1998, which is involved in humanitarian activities. In 2008, he entered politics by forming the Praja Rajyam Party. In the 2009 Andhra Pradesh elections, Chiranjeevi contested from his native place Palakollu and Tirupati. He was defeated by the Congress party candidate in Palakollu and was elected as a member of the State Assembly from Tirupati constituency. He led the Praja Rajyam Party to emerge as the third largest party during the same election. Later in February 2011 his Praja Rajyam Party Merged into Indian National Congress. less