- 2 days ago
In an exclusive interview with India Today, actor-politician Pawan Kalyan spoke on Hindi language row, portrayal of Mughals in textbooks, his upcoming film, ‘Hari Hara Veera Mallu’ where the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb is portrayed as the antagonist and other issues.
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00:00Hello and welcome to this India Today special where today my colleague Akshita Nand Gopal and
00:15I are joined by a very special guest the Andhra deputy chief minister Pawan Kalyan the superstar
00:21the power star of Telugu cinema as well. Pawan Kalyan thank you very much for joining us on
00:27India Today. You're joining us when you're not just deputy chief minister but you're also releasing
00:33a new movie Hari Hara Veera Mallu your new Telugu film so I want to ask you which role are you more
00:42comfortable in the power star of cinema or the Hindutva hero of politics of Andhra Pradesh which
00:51is the real Pawan Kalyan Hindutva hero or power star or both I don't consider myself either as a
01:03Hindutva hero or as a power star what I do is whatever comes on on my way I try to give my
01:10best as an actor I'm comfortable as a leader I'm comfortable as a deputy chief minister I'm
01:15comfortable whatever that particular situation demands out of me I give my 100% thought so I'm
01:22comfortable and I don't know about the Hindutva concept of it I never looked at as a Hindutva concept
01:29alone I feel whatever is some kind of imbalance is there when I address it maybe people might be
01:37perceiving it as a Hindutva I can but actually feel I'm doing what is needed to be done
01:43I hope you're saying that you're not a Hindutva yeah yeah go ahead Akshita go ahead actually my
01:54apologies for interrupting Pawan Kalyan Gauru namaskaram here yellow Nauru
02:01let's get a ball on separately I was got him sir I just wanted to ask you just to follow up on your
02:06role in a hurry had a video Malo also the fact that you know you're someone who takes on the
02:13Mughals is that have the lines blurred is it about what you believe in in also transcending into your
02:19films as well not necessarily films necessarily we take we get inspired from especially this particular
02:31film has a historical background and it is a fictitious drama a character called Hariharveera
02:40Malo and it's about Kohino diamond which has been which had been found in Kullur which is a part of
02:46Andhra Pradesh and the Krishna basin and it is a fictitious story a fictitious character meeting
02:53Aurangzeb during his run and that's how the story unfolds though it it is in pursuit of to bring back
03:01Kohinoor back to Golconda which is the task will be is will be sent by Kuli Kutip Shah the
03:10Nizam ruler I think that's how it starts I'm a character who would like to know who goes all
03:17the way out to Delhi to bring back Kohinoor as Kuli Kutip Shah asked him to do it that's how the story
03:26India gets started film starts gets started and once as the film unfolds then we'll see
03:33whatever I mean the character gets unfolded and his multiple dimensions and part of the entire
03:42the first part of the film is about what exactly happened during Aurangzebira and how he
03:48ascended the throne and what exact what kind of atrocities he had done that the glimpses will
03:54be there not completely we are focusing on it but nevertheless the villains are the mughals the
04:01villains sir in any film there will be an antagonist there will be a protagonist and there will be a
04:07force of pro forces there will be anti forces in this film if you the way story unfolds definitely
04:14it is a rivalry between Kuli Kutip Shah and Aurangzeb that's how we can look at it and how hero fits
04:22into this entire scheme of things would be definitely yes Aurangzeb is the antagonist in the film
04:29okay Rajdeep the reason I think that the reason I think that's important in a way to understand
04:37Pawan Kalyan the biggest Hindi blockbuster of 2025 is Java where again it's Chhatrapati Shambhaji Maharaj
04:45versus Aurangzeb now you're making a film where again Aurangzeb is the antagonist it almost seems
04:52as if whether Hindi cinema or Telugu cinema making Aurangzeb or the Mughals the villains is the way to
04:59box office success I saw a quote of yours where you said why should the Mughals be shown only as great
05:06rulers whether Akbar or any other ruler they they resorted to a lot of suffering so is there a conscious
05:12attempt to paint the Mughals as the antagonist to attract box office and this is where your role as a
05:19Hindutva hero in real life is merging with what you are showing on real life
05:28not necessarily maybe it is a frankly speaking it is bit coincidental I never planned a period
05:34period film this is a story not written by me or I'm just an actor and this film had been this plot
05:42had been conceived by the original script writer the director who Mr. Krish who came in 2018 I think
05:50around 2018 then he toyed with that idea and it took him some time to run for I mean to start the film
05:57I think it started around four to five years back where even what other was saying the where a lot of
06:04films have been coming out where Aurangzeb is being projected as an antagonist but we started quite early
06:10and even I was we didn't even have a kind of BJP alliance as I had said earlier it has got nothing
06:18to do but the story we when it was it started it is more about Kohinoor Kohinoor originated from
06:25Krishna basin mines of golden diamond mines of Krishna which is situated in Andhra Pradesh so it is more
06:32of a retrieval of Kohinoor from peacock throne so incidentally around that time where Aurangzeb has
06:38had ascended the throne so in that way if you had to look at it it is not because of my firm stand
06:44on certain Hindutva related issues but what is your stand is your stand that we need to look at the
06:55well we need to look at the mughals more objectively is that your stand that therefore we should look
07:01at the darker side of the mughals because now even NCRP textbooks are trying to project what they call
07:07a more objective reason
07:13definitely because Mr. Rajdeep I would like to share this with you
07:20when we were in school we had been taught about the glory of mughals what they had definitely they said
07:25the they had projected the pious side of the religious side of Aurangzeb and he now used to
07:32the best side of Aurangzeb had been portrayed in our school syllabus when we were in school
07:38but parallelly if we go back to our homes and all like and if we used to get to read a lot of literature
07:43especially I don't know about Hindi but I can say Mr. Prasad who is a historical writer and we used to
07:50read all his novels and all his books and historical depiction uh historical characters whatever the
07:58historical novels and there we could see another side of mughals and also the lot of uh south indian
08:04dynasties or other dynasties of India had been he had written a lot about it so my question uh at
08:11that uh well during school for not just for me for my entire class of uh group of people we used to
08:17discuss how come this is not being reflected in the syllabus so it is not out of today it because
08:23of it uh it happened today not in ncrt uh had introduced it's not about that it is about the
08:29general feeling uh what we when we are growing up in school growing to school in 80s i think that's what
08:36we all had uh faced and and maybe we grew up and we had everyone had a role to play where i became an actor
08:43and also became leader i think all this merged into one but nevertheless it just didn't happen
08:49because of the recent developments no it is always there
08:54right because they constantly talk about the glory of mughals the good side of mughals
09:00a good side of orange but they had never shown the the negative aspect the dark aspect of mughal i think
09:06if you want to see anything in objective manner i think they they could have presented in uh school
09:12books or syllabus they could have presented both good and bad but they conveniently his jiji for
09:18example his jiji for being a hindu you have to pay a tax and it was just a simple line there's nothing
09:25else been uh elaborated on that and the concert but they're elaborating like you know good things about
09:31him positive thinking about him how he never used to take money he used to write books write quran
09:36and i think he used to stitch some topis something like that uh i think why can't why didn't they do
09:43it so this was our question i think this film uh addresses the looks at his darker side too
09:50okay so you're saying cover both sides ensure everything is known uh of the mughals era of the
09:55mughal dynasty uh pangali angaro also when we talk of this particular issue i think another one that
10:02comes up is the language debate which has been playing out for the last many years that you
10:05dived into headfirst recently as well uh what do you think do you think hindi should be our national
10:11language is that what you're pitching for
10:13i frankly speaking when i was in school uh hindi is a second language to all of us uh today i'm
10:26able to read and write hindi only because i learned it in school i don't know suddenly why
10:30it became a big issue uh in recent times even in andhra pradesh and andhra pradesh shares borders
10:36with chattisgard andhra shares border with varissa and karnataka we share borders with tamil
10:41naru we shall borrow share share borders with varissa and telangana of course recently and i
10:49don't know why we have to make a language issue as a big debate if telangana itself is mixed with
10:55the urdu mixed telugu instead of you saying aspatal you call it as dawkana so what is so wrong and
11:02even in telangana certain leaders are antagonizing hindi it's a quite a surprising thing for me a
11:08surprising uh element to me if i look at it uh i don't know why everyone is parking this language
11:14debate i feel it is more than the hindi itself i think it is uh maybe they don't lie uh because
11:20the hatred towards bjpr the hatred towards uh modiji should not uh get diverted to hindi language i think
11:27that's how i frame it the allegation is very very essential not just in the all the language ikea
11:35now the allegation constantly is that hindi is being imposed by a certain political party and
11:40your political detractors to counter what you've said on hindi have raised what you've said years
11:44ago when you said to north indian politicians you know don't bring your language don't impose it on us
11:52no no no i i i still i stand by the same because a language should be learned with a passion
11:58no one has taught me english by force it then created a necessity to learn english i didn't
12:04know today we are speaking in english not because of that we love english because it has because of
12:09english rule or colonial rule it became a necessity in the same way hindi is also a necessity for me
12:15today i'm able to speak tamil is because of it is i love it and it is a necessary way of a language to
12:21communicate especially when i'm doing films as i grew up in chennai also it's a vice versa if i go to
12:26karnataka that's what i try to speak if i go to maharashtra i try to pick up few lines of marathi i
12:31think that's what we all should understand a multi-linguistic approach our perspective is needed
12:38to each and every citizen of this nation i think it is good for the linguistic integration and cultural
12:44integration i firmly believe in it rajdeep would would you go and say what you would you go and
12:51say what you told us today in tamil nadu i you know would you would pavan kalyan go and tell this
12:58to the people of tamil nadu because some of the most serious opposition to hindi imposition has come
13:04from tamil nadu would you go to a tamil nadu and say we have to be a multicultural multilingual language no
13:09no no i had simply saying this because it suits his politics
13:20what do i get by can being convenient i said i what i believe because for me
13:25because i you have to understand uh i i love hindi i respect hindi yeah first of all it is my
13:32a second language you know in my school i grew up in chennai uh there i had to i like tamil
13:37uh so there is for me always language is something we have for communicating better integrating better
13:43that's how i look at it if you want me if you're the question what you are asking is whether i would
13:48do the same thing go to tamil nadu and say this i think i had said it i said it uh anything tamil
13:54channels also and i had said it i don't mind uh saying it if a question being asked but my question is
13:59is if you look at bardi a great poet from tamil nadu and he grew up in for a formative years he grew
14:07up in kasi waranasi and his pagadi will be like a turban of a punjabi sikh and he said even in his
14:15attire he adopted and he knows hindi and he adopted the the sikh turban as a part of his attire to
14:23integrate this is every part of my nation should represent my attire so i think there are great people
14:28in tamil nadu who welcomes a hindi but only the question would be the moment you try to impose
14:34something the reluctance will be there even if a mother when she tries to impose something we
14:39naturally we try to say we don't like it but if you let people live i think that's how we should
14:46get people used to to get make you should make people to learn hindi i think in that way not by
14:52imposing but making the importance why should we learn hindi and if you address people in a
14:59rational way and a logical way rather than imposing i think that will yield the results that's what i
15:04found the believer the the reason i asked you this uh power kalyan uh is because there's a sense in
15:13recent time there's a growing north-south divide there's a north-south divide politically and culturally
15:18therefore when a pavan kalyan for example speaks about sanatandharm raksha that you're going to
15:24protect sanatandharm and that you're going to set up committees to protect sanatandharm there'll be
15:29those in tamil nadu particularly with the dravidian movement who have a very different uh interpretation
15:35of sanatandharm that's why as i said originally you are now being seen as the yogi adityanath of the south
15:41that you are consciously trying to promote a hinduized culture in uh in a milieu where there are
15:49others who have a very different perspective who see a imposition of hindi hindu hindustan on the south
15:56how do you look at it is there a cultural battle is there a regional battle that's taking place
16:01and is there a growing divide you think north versus south
16:04i don't know you i think this this division is more about between uh political leaders than the
16:14people people they want to be at peace they want to people from warissa people from bihar
16:19people from uttar pradesh people from all the way from nepal or jarakhand chattisgarh they go to
16:25southern parts of tamil nadu they come to andhra pradesh they go to karnataka and they do it and then we
16:31we don't find any issues maybe certain people are there definitely some some kind of uh a
16:36troublemakers will be there in each and every state maybe one or two few incidents might happen i don't
16:40know as well at least uh i read very few once or twice i read in uh uh over the social media but
16:47otherwise uh i at large i think it is always about political parties it is not about with the people
16:54there is no such thing people being created north south no culture is very integrated in fact
17:01shankaracharya all the way went to kishmir he had set up all the uh ashram and shankaracharya peace
17:06i think uh it is quite integrated uh like yogi ramswarathkumar come all the way to thiruvannamalai
17:12and he become uh most revered saint over there i i think uh there is no such thing uh where we
17:19constantly speaking in media there is a divide there is some kind of division i think which i don't
17:24believe in it and it depends the majority of this nation are already integrated only once in a while
17:30a certain it could be a few parties it could be certain leaders maybe they try to spark the
17:37certain negativity around this language or cultural debate otherwise it's uh people want to go progress
17:44people want to go ahead they want to put an end to this kind of north south or between regional and
17:50cultural i think that's how i look at it and that's what i truly work towards it to strengthen that
17:56thought actually not to uh uh disintegrate i want to you know the the stand that you've taken upon
18:03kalyangaru on issues like language is uh in direct contrast with our dravidian party speak of you've
18:08been visiting tamirnadu a lot like you said your tamir is very good uh now press conference could
18:14apart so you speak crystal clear tamir as well uh you've been visiting tamirnadu a lot elections are
18:20coming up is the janusena is your party looking to expand also grow beyond andhra pradesh look perhaps
18:25to tamirnadu definitely i have a lot of uh good support system is there in tamirnadu because of the
18:34ideology or the way maybe people are connected with my thought process but personally i know that uh
18:41single-handedly i built the party uh for the last uh 10 to 12 years before i had worked with other party
18:46and to develop a party it takes a very deep uh a very long time and a deep commitment is needed
18:53i am not in a hurry i'm not in uh interest to grab power in each and every state and for me it is not
18:59that for me i'm very if my party if it wants to advance its interests it should be more for the cultural
19:08and national integration or linguistic integration uh it is not to grab power sometimes i might not for
19:13the last 10 years i never had power till recently but i did stood for i stood for my ideals so in
19:20that way i look at it uh tamirnadu is a place which i would like to uh go ahead maybe not necessarily
19:26for uh to take a part to develop a party or to let it progress we need a very committed individual so
19:32to take the ideals of the party forward uh as as of now i have great supporting system uh if such kind
19:38such kind of leaders are there uh we don't know how it unfolds but as of now i'm not thinking in those lines
19:48but but but but but power kalyan you mentioned ideology and ideas
19:53power kalyan gadu what are the ideology and ideals of the jana sena five years ago six years ago you
20:00said she givara and fidel castro were your heroes you once told me jai prakash narayan was your hero but
20:06you seem broadly very leftist just uh six seven years ago today your hero is narendra modhi i don't
20:13know you have shifted from shaykh yuvara and castro
20:18you have shifted from shaykh yuvara to narendra modhi rajdeepji
20:24no i like the way you uh frame your questions and i love you the way you speak
20:32but let me be very frank with you i like even now i like shaykh yuvara i love him i respect him
20:39and even sometimes when i used to go to america certain people say they say you like shaykh yuvara
20:44you know we americans we don't you know how much we like him in the way in a in a sarcastic way
20:50for me i look at shaykh yuvara because i my let me tell you about my background you have to understand
20:56where i come from suddenly because i became an actor suddenly i started a political party it's not i'm not
21:01saying this i grew entire southern part of india especially andhra pradesh or certain part not even
21:06tamilana especially andhra and telangana is very much in no matter whether they're left parties or
21:13so-called democratic parties there is a left-leaning in the political uh ideological framework in each and
21:20every party and my father was a member of a combined communist party before it got split into cpi and cpm
21:31and including my uncle and my one of my maternal uncles also my maternal my mother's maternal uncle
21:39also he used to had a small district unit as a cpi secretary or something for some for some kind of
21:47workers union for me it is not i grew up with a left-wing thought ideology socialistic ideology rather
21:55i can say not even left but i can say socialistic ideology we used to get a lot of uh so literature
22:01from soviet land play because of soviet land and all these things i we we respect that equality for
22:06all justice for all is it what everyone strives for uh but at the same time my father is also a great
22:14devotee of lord drama so we can't say a man who's seeking social justice or who stands for social
22:21justice does not mean that he has to keep he obviously has to be an atheist he could be a
22:26believer he could be a great devotee and also he can propagate the ideology of social justice i think
22:32that's where i come my background comes from my cultural background so i always i see uh social justice
22:39and uh uh devotion both go hand in hand in in our families and more or less in if you look at the entire
22:47andhra pradesh even the hardcore communist leaders so uh our devotee had become devotees in their later
22:53years including the late gather also in fact i had asked the baladi gather when he when visited he
22:59wrote a song so who is your hero who is your uh who criticized so pavan kalyan pavan kalyan garu
23:07pavan kalyan garu who's your hero narendra modi or sheikh yuvara who's your hero number one yeah
23:12who's your hero number one sheikh yuvara or narendra modi i respect him and no no no no no no no no
23:23listen to me sir please sir you should let me speak
23:28and sheikh yuvara is why do you confine only me uh because she gives a reason maybe everyone likes
23:33it maybe they're trying to project it i also projected uh i like raman over low here i like uh
23:38look like jay prakash narayan and i like gandhi ji and if you look at when i started a common man
23:45protection force maybe akshetaji uh can give you those visuals actually akshetaji when i started a
23:51common man protection force which is the uh formative uh platform for jana sena yeah and if you look at
23:58the background i think those were the people who inspired me there's a swami way if you look at it
24:03so my it is a very cultural i mean it is a quite integrated approach which i had taken the uh best
24:09of people whom i read who whom i like what the kind of their work i read their works and i like their
24:16thoughts i think i picked up a lot of good ideas from each and everyone and i integrated as a whole
24:22for jana sena and of course contemporary political situations in the meanwhile i definitely i look
24:28especially why if you ask me rajdeepji why do i like if you ask me my hero it is not about hero
24:35i firmly believe this nation is a very strong leader and when uh mumbai blast happened when
24:42when terrorists attacked mumbai and that time that point of time i was in waranasi
24:48like went for to immerse my father's ashes i was there for two and a half days and two
24:53the way it lasted for 72 hours uh the mayhem had uh continued for 72 hours at that point of time i
25:00felt this country needs a very strong leader even terrorists should be uh should be uh scared to
25:06attackers i think we need a very strong uh leadership person who should head the country i think that i
25:12that quality i had found in i have found in uh narendra modiji and that's where i started when i
25:18initiated the party that's where i openly came and supported him and that's what i continue to do
25:23but my ideas are different and still i like shaggy vera still i like ramonohar alohiaji still i like
25:30look like jay precaution my ideals didn't go but i aligned with him in this way that's it
25:39right akshita tell a good question i think the question everyone will be asking right now
25:47bringing the focus back to harihara veera mallu because as a power star fan i want to know this is
25:52your first film that's being released after you took charge as the andhra pradesh deputy chief
25:56minister how hard is it power kalyangaru to be a power star and a power nita
26:08for me my priority my heart always goes for a social transformation and politics right from my
26:14even before i entered into cinema i'm a very socially conscious personality right from my childhood
26:20uh films later latched on to me uh it's a quite tough job it's a quite tough job here you know the
26:30tough part is okay here you go you fight against your arrivals you go and fight with your uh you
26:35talk about public policy suddenly you come back to cinema and try to shake a leg or try to say something
26:41in a dramatic way there i really struggled to say that i had really struggled and for me for example
26:48even for me action sequence comes out naturally because i'm a trained in martial arts so that
26:53comes out naturally and dialogue is also okay but sometimes a little melodrama is needed or some kind
26:58of uh some kind of dance is needed i find it uh frankly speaking i find quite a bit awkward to do
27:04there i find it really should i continue acting or should i should have given up long back but only
27:09thing is lack of my uh my financial sources only cinema i think uh i have to do this you know you always
27:17said that you were that you uh didn't really plan to get into acting but it's something that happened
27:22with you so you're saying very candidly that you do this because you need the money to continue funding
27:27your political dreams of transforming andra is that what you're telling us
27:34no i need because for me politics is a way of uh national service to me it is not something
27:39uh uh it's not otherwise uh politics is meant for anybody to the social it's a national service
27:47but it's a service to society and uh if i would have had enough money or if i would have had a
27:53continuous stream of income i don't think i would do films because of films more than films and my
27:58passion is more for uh public life and people and politics okay okay so power neta over power
28:05star rajdeep we're going to leave it there yeah yeah we're going to leave it there uh pavan kalyan i
28:13know you've had a very busy schedule you're both power neta power star uh i thought akshita you want
28:19to give one line in telugu to sum up what pavan kalyan means for uh his fans uh rajdeep whatever i say i
28:27know his fans will feel let down but i will say this that pavan kalyan garu i i hope uh hari
28:32harry veera mallu is as good as my favorite pavan kalyan film which is gabbar singh so i hope it's as
28:37good as that hopefully hopefully thank you sir thank you sir rajdeep thank you thank you thank you so
28:48much thank you pavan kalyan garu thanks akshita for giving us a sense of uh of what pavan kalyan means
28:55to uh his millions of fans uh that was an india today special thanks for watching
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