| The alleged rift between Megastar Chiranjeevi and his brothers Nagababu and Pawan Kalyan has been the talk of the town for a while now. With Chiru's affinity to brother-in-law Allu Arvind growing each day, sources say, the writing's on the wall. People are aware of the active role Nagababu and Pawan Kalayan played in Chiranjeevi's political arangetram. The brothers were always there to support the star. However, sources say, Chiru's recent decision to merge Praja Rajyam Party with the Congress did not go down too well with the brothers. It may be recalled that Pawan Kalyan campaigned aggressively for Chiru's PRP and also declared many a times that he wanted to see his elder brother holding the top-most post in the state. "but now, Chiru's merger with the Congress, against whom Pawan spoke every time, has left him red in the face," says a source from Pawan's camp. Just last year, at the audio launch of "Komaram Puli", Pawan spoke emotionally about his big brother. Things however were different at the recent "Theen Maar" event where Pawan barely mentioned his brother. On his part, Chiranjeevi was conspicuously absent from the function while Nagababu and Allu Arvind who attended it made blink-and-miss appearance. "The discomfiture on Arvind's face was evident and he hardly spoke, a far cry from the earlier trend where family members gushed about each other," says the source. Political differences apart, business-related issues too have allegedly cropped up between the brothers. Insiders claim that the flop of "Orange" made Nagababu, who produced the film, distance himself from his big brother. Nagababu is the producer for Anjana Productions, a banner launched by the three brothers and named after their mother Anjana, to produce films with Pawan, Chiranjeevi and Ram Charan Tej. So far, seven films have been released under this banner. The last film was "Orange" with Charan, which tanked at the box office. Sources say, the flop caused Nagababu financial losses. Meanwhile, Chiru was upset with the massive budget and the delay in release. The growing differences between him and Chiranjeevi brought Nagababu closer to the younger brother Pawan. However, instead of releasing his upcoming " Gabbar Singh" under the Anjana banner as was the trend, Pawan chose his newly launched banner and is producing the film himself. "This is Power Star's first film under his own banner," stated a Press Release circulated in the media recently. When asked about the split, Nagababu, said, "Really? Are people saying such things? Well, Chiru has been busy with his political career, and we are busy with our own careers. Just because we don't meet often that doesn't mean we don't get along." With the alleged rift in Chiranjeevi's family purportedly affecting their home production too, Hyderabad Times asked Nagababu why movies of their family members are being produced under different banners? "See, Anjana Productions was always with me, it still is. If anyone wants to release their movie under my banner, he is welcome. Pawan too has his own production house, and if he wants to produce his own film, I think it's fair enough. There's no need to read into it much. I don't want to comment on Praja Rajyam Party's merger with Congress." The other big pointer to the alleged split is the recent week-long wedding celebrations of Allu Arjun in which Chiranjeevi and his family were seen taking an active part while Pawan Kalyan and Nagababu made a brief appearance on the wedding day. "They went to the wedding just for the sake of the public," says our source. Tongues have been wagging about Allu Aravind's growing influence on Chiranjeevi. Aravind had always publicly declared that he owes his success as a producer to his 'Bava' (brother-in-law) Chiranjeevi. He produced several films with Chiranjeevi, Pawan Kalyan, Allu Arjun and Charan on his "Geetha Arts" banner. Besides producing movies, Arvind also takes up film distribution for some areas. However, during the recent launch of "Theen Maar", Aravind's response was lukewarm and he did not show much interest in the distribution of this flick, say observers. Insiders inform us that nowadays Chiranjeevi doesn't make a single move without consulting Aravind, who is now considered to be his 'right hand man'. Even his own brothers have to take an appointment from Aravind to meet Chiranjeevi, they allege. It is also believed that it was Aravind who advised Chiru to merge with the Congress. This growing affinity, according to sources, has alienated the Megastar from his brothers. Sources further add that Pawan Kalyan and Nagababu are planning to join politics soon. "They don't want to join the Congress, because Chiru is already there. They are likely to join a big national party. The duo have already sent feelers to them." Going by these developments, speculation is high, that the rift between the brothers has few chances of being bridged. In Andhra Pradesh, where fan following is based on either the caste of the star or his lineage, the rift in the Mega-family' might just have a ripple effect amongst the fan base. All attempts at getting in touch with Chiranjeevi and Allu Aravind proved futile at the time of going to print. |
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