At the age of 17, Pawan Kalyan almost joined the Naxalites. Chiranjeevi’s questions stopped him
Pawan Kalyan said that he had once considered joining the Naxalites before Chiranjeevi’s intervention. He said that his brother’s questions about family responsibility forced him to stop and reconsider his decision.
Telugu actor-politician and Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Pawan Kalyan has said that, before entering politics, he had once considered joining the Naxalites. Recently in a podcast ANIHe also attended some public meetings before going that route, adding that it was his brother, actor Chiranjeevi, who encouraged him to channel his anger into something “more constructive”.
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Pawan Kalyan, who made his debut in the 1996 film Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi and founded the Janasena party in 2014. He said his desire to pick up a gun went back to his late teens and early twenties. He said, “I also enjoyed joining the Naxalites. At one time, when I was a teenager… I wanted to take up a gun. Then my brother inspired me to do something more creative.”
Recalling those years, he said that Chiranjeevi had asked him where his “manic anger” was coming from. Pawan said that he had talked about injustice (in society) and his desire to act on it, which worried his brother a lot.
“It went from 17 to 21. That’s the age you can jump into,” he said.
He also described that period as a period in which he was struggling internally and looking for direction. According to him, he used to attend student functions where no one knew him, and also attended short film festivals in Mumbai to make documentaries. He said he was experimenting, but was unhappy with everything, feeling stuck and angry. He said, “Many things were going on in my mind. I was going crazy. That’s when my brother entered the picture.”
Pawan said that after this Chiranjeevi asked many questions about the responsibility after which finally he had to stop. He said, “He said only one thing. If your brother was not Chiranjeevi, if you had responsibilities towards your family, if someone was dependent on you on the basis of your salary and hard work, would you have done the same? I could not answer. I had no answer, I remained silent.”
That question helped Pawan Kalyan turn his anger against injustice into something meaningful. Years later, after a successful career in films, he started his own political party in 2014.
On the professional front, Pawan Kalyan was last seen Hari Har Veera Mallu And they call him OG last year and Ustad Bhagat Singh In 2026. He will next be seen in an untitled project directed by Surendra Reddy, and no other projects have been announced as of now.