Chiranjeevi's Reported ₹200 Crore Netflix Podcast Deal

Trade reports claim the Megastar has been offered a record sum for a multi-episode talk show that started life as a documentary pitch before Netflix reworked the format.

₹200 crore. That's the number doing the rounds for Chiranjeevi's reported Netflix debut, and if even half of it holds up, this would be one of the biggest paydays an Indian star has taken for a talk show format.

According to Track Tollywood, Netflix is working on a celebrity podcast-style show built around the Megastar, and multiple entertainment reports have attached that eye-watering figure to the deal. Nobody at Netflix or in Chiranjeevi's camp has confirmed the number, or the show, officially. Take it as trade talk for now, not a signed contract.

What does seem consistent across reports is the shape of the project. Writer B. V. S. Ravi, who worked on Balakrishna's Unstoppable, is said to have developed the concept, and Chiranjeevi's daughter Sushmita Konidela is reportedly steering it from the production side. The idea, per these reports, began as something closer to a documentary charting Chiranjeevi's life and career. Somewhere along the way it turned into a multi-episode conversation format instead, with a new guest walking in each episode.

The pitch, as described, has Chiranjeevi talking cinema, his decades in Telugu film, and his stretch in politics, presumably his time with the Praja Rajyam Party and later positions, though the reports don't spell out how far the political conversations would go. He's reportedly shown interest in getting into his personal life too, which would be new territory for someone who's kept that side fairly guarded through a career that's run since the late seventies.

This wouldn't be his first time behind a mic and in front of a studio audience. Chiranjeevi hosted Meelo Evaru Koteeswarudu, the Telugu version of Kaun Banega Crorepati, on Star Maa, and that stint is being cited as proof he can carry a long-running conversational format on his own. A global streaming podcast is a different animal though, aimed at a platform and an audience well beyond Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

The bigger picture here is Netflix's continuing push into long-form celebrity conversation content, a genre that's worked well for the platform internationally and one it's clearly keen to localise with a name like Chiranjeevi's attached. Landing a star of his stature would be a statement of intent for Netflix's India slate, which has leaned hard into regional stars this year.

For now, the official word is still pending. Netflix hasn't announced anything, Chiranjeevi's team hasn't put out a statement, and the ₹200 crore figure remains something reported rather than confirmed. If the deal is real, expect an announcement in the coming weeks, and expect the first guest list to tell us a lot about how big Netflix wants this show to be.