20 November 2022
Hyderabad
Megastar Chiranjeevi will be honoured with the 'Indian Personality of the Year' award for the year 2022 at the 53rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI), Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said.
“INDIAN FILM PERSONALITY @IFFIGoa Sh Chiranjeevi Ji has had an illustrious career spanning almost four decades, w/ over 150 films as an actor, dancer & producer. He is immensely popular in Telugu Cinema w/ incredible performances touching hearts! Congratulations @KChiruTweets (sic),” Thakur tweeted on Sunday.
Reacting to the honour, Chiru posted, “Greatly Delighted and Humbled at this honour, Sri @ianuragthakur! My deep gratitude to Govt of India @MIB_India@IFFIGoa@Anurag_Office and all my loving fans only because of whom i am here today! (sic)”
Chiru will be presented with the award in Goa shortly. Hema Malini and Prasoon Joshi were the recipients of the same award last year. 53rd IFFI which kicked off in Goa on Sunday will conclude on November 28.
Chiranjeevi, who began his career in 1978 with Punadhirallu, went on to do over 150 films in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. Some of his most popular films in a rich oeuvre include Khaidi, Swayam Krushi, Challenge, Vijetha, Rudraveena, State Rowdy, Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari, Mutamestri, Gangleader, Hitler, Tagore, Indra and Khaidi No 150. He bagged the prestigious Raghupathi Venkaiah Award, three Nandis, and nine Filmfare Telugu awards. For his contributions to Indian cinema, he was honoured with the Padma Bhushan, India's third-highest civilian award, in 2006.
IFFI will also pay tribute to Indian cinema icons Lata Mangeshkar, T Rama Rao, Bappi Lahiri, Pandit Birju Maharaj, Pandit Shivkumar Sharma and Tarun Majumdar among others while Spanish filmmaker Carlos Saura will be honoured with the Satyajit Ray Lifetime Achievement Award and an eight-film retrospective. In the International section, homage will be paid to the film geniuses Bob Rafelson, Ivan Reitman, Peter Bogdanovich, Douglas Trumbell and Monica Vitti.
