Monday, October 30, 2006

Crowning glory, says Chiranjeevi

The year began with a Padma Bhushan and on Saturday came the announcement from Andhra University (AU) awarding him an honorary doctorate. Midway between the two came a visit to his charitable blood bank from President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

"The first call I made was to my mother Anjana Devi. She always wanted to see me as a doctor. She liked my role in Shankardada MBBS but this is truly the crowning glory", an elated megastar Chiranjeevi told The Hindu .

Slogans hailing the `Megastar', `Shankardada MBBS', `Maa Annayya' rang loud and clear on the premises, as he met the teeming crowd of fans in the hall of the first floor of the blood. Also present were a group of Infosys executives and while addressing the fans, he made a mention of how he admired the simplicity of software giant's founder N.R. Narayanmurthy.

The fans apart, others present included wife Surekha, younger brother Pawan Kalyan, brother-in-law and film producer Allu Arvind and his son Allu Arjun and actors Srikanth and Uttej.

Mr. Chiranjeevi said the awards no doubt gave him happiness and added, "I would like to be remembered for ever as `mana' (our) Chiranjeevi. Thank you everyone, for being with me and I promise that I will continue to be in public service, be it eye or blood donation, helping children affected with thalassemia and the HIV- positive people".

AU Vice-Chancellor Venugopal Reddy said Mr. Chiranjeevi was chosen for the honorary doctorate in view of his social work, he being a good actor with a mass following and above all, being a Padma Bhushan awardee.

Source: The Hindu

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