No megastar in India other than Amitabh, says Chiranjeevi at Syeraa teaser launch

Praising Amitabh Bachchan as his real-life mentor, Telugu superstar Chiranjeevi said Bachchan is the only megastar in the country.

At the launch of his upcoming film Syeraa Narasimha Reddy's teaser in Mumbai, Chiranjeevi also described the experience of working with the veteran as 'wonderful'.

Directed by Surender Reddy, Syeraa Narasimha Reddy will see Bachchan play Gosaayi Venkanna, guru to Chiranjeevi's Narasimha Reddy.

Speaking about how Bachchan came into the film, Chiranjeevi said, "He is my real-life mentor. It happened the same way on sets. I always believe there is only one megastar, Amitabh Bachchan. There is no one near him. I couldn't consider myself the same. Working with him is an amazing experience. I am indebted to him a lot." 

The actor added, "My director wanted an actor to play my guru in the film. It is a special character and he said, 'It would be great if it was Amitabh Bachchan.' I said I'll try. I called him and told him about the character and the film. He said, 'Chiranjeevi, you don't ask anything usually, and you have asked this. I am saying yes.'

"It was so great that he responded immediately. We really had a wonderful experience working with him," the actor said. 

In addition to being a multi-lingual backed by Ritesh Sidhwani and Farhan Akhtar's Excel Entertainment, Syeraa Narasimha Reddy will see Chiranjeevi return to Hindi cinema after his last major outing, Aaj Ka Gundaraj (1992). While the actor has had multi-lingual releases since, there have been no Hindi films. 

Explaining his absence, Chiranjeevi said, "I don't know why this gap has come. I don't get any proper content to come back again. That was the reason. I also stopped acting for politics. For 10 years, I was there [in the political arena]. Again in 2016, I started working. I thought with this film, I should come back to 'Bollywood'." 

Directed by Surender Reddy, Syeraa Narasimha Reddy also features an ensemble cast of Kiccha Sudeep, Vijay Sethupathi, Tamannaah Bhatia, Nayanthara and Jagapathi Babu, among others. The film is set for release on 2 October 2019.