Pawan Kalyan almost joined Naxalites at 17, reveals how Chiranjeevi stopped him: 'Wanted to pick up the gun'

Pawan Kalyan. Pic via X

Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and actor Pawan Kalyan recently made a shocking revelation from his teenage days. Pawan shared that he had almost chosen a different career path before his brother turned him away from it.

Pawan Kalyan recalls almost joining Naxalites

During an ANI podcast with Smita Prakash, Pawan Kalyan admitted that he had almost joined Naxalism and had even attended a few jana sabhas (public meetings), before he finally decided not to pursue it further.

Pawan opened up about how enraged he was by the state of affairs in the world. He added that he was an 80s teenager, where the South African apartheid, the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) movement in Sri Lanka's repercussions in Chennai, Cold War reflections, unrest in a unified Germany, Khalistani militancy and more would affect him.

The actor and politician revealed, "I even entertained getting into the Naxalites. One point in time, when I was in my late teens, yes. Yes, I wanted to pick up the gun. That's when my brother pushed me into something more constructive. He said, where is that mad rage coming from? I said, I'm talking about injustice, we should go do this and that. He was very worried. It lasted from 17 to 21. That's the age you can jump in."

He also added that he was ‘going crazy' and thought that joining the Naxalites would be a solution. He would attend jana sabhas with students where no one knew him. He even admitted going to Mumbai to take part in short film festivals and make documentaries, saying he was ‘experimenting' but unhappy with all of it and feeling stuck and angry.

"That's when my brother entered the picture. He said only one thing. If your brother is not Chiranjeevi, if you have responsibilities towards your family, if someone is dependent on you based on your salary and hard work, would you do the same thing? I could not answer. I didn't have an answer, I kept quiet," Pawan added. Eventually, the actor said he then turned to spirituality before going to acting classes.

Pawan Kalyan's work front

On the professional front, Pawan Kalyan was last seen in Hari Hara Veera Mallu as well as They Call Him OG last year. This year, he was seen in Ustaad Bhagat Singh. Next, he has an untitled project directed by Surender Reddy in the pipeline.

Meanwhile, he is also fulfilling his duties as the sitting Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.