Before Chiranjeevi was the Tollywood No 1 when he exit from Tollywood. Chiranjeevi proved himself as Number one star with enormous fan following and back to back commercial hits along with award winning performances.
However Mahesh has a interesting philosophy for the Number one hot seat. He says, whoever scores back to back blockbusters is undoubtedly the Number one in the industry. Though there are many counter arguments for this, it looks plausible as the end result matters.
When inquired whether he accepts that he is Number one in Tollywood after Dookudu and BM, he said "If you are in that position, you need not explicitly say 'Yes am Number one' ;If you have any doubts in mind I have to give another 2-3 blockbusters to confirm that."
Strangely, he supported his fans for making huge noise about the movie collections. He said "We cannot intervene in that, Fans do that out of excitement. Infact we need more of such arguments because Telugu Industry needs more blockbusters”