Marking Telugu Language Day on Saturday, Allu Sirish has revealed that he is thankful to his grandfather, Allu Ramalingaiah, and his mother for making him learn Telugu during his formative years in Chennai. The Mega hero made it a point to write a tribute to Telugu in a subsequent tweet.

"Growing up in Chennai, my school only offered Hindi and Tamil which I learnt. My grandfather was insistent we learn our mother tongue and kept home tuitions for us. Later my mother taught me the language," the 'ABCD' actor said, adding that he is thankful to both of them for keeping him rooted to Telugu language and culture.

Quoting Sri Krishnadevarayalu's 'Desha bashalandu Telugu lessa' line, Sirish added, "Famous 14th century traveler Niccolo de Conti, who travelled world over, called Telugu, 'The Italian of the East' for its mellifluous sounding. This is because most of the words in Telugu end with a vowel, similar to Italian."

The 'Srirastu Subhamastu' actor recently made a firm decision to go local and avoid foreign goods. Sirish made an example of it by gifting his colleagues such as Sai Dharam Tej with desi goods.

"దేశభాషలందు తెలుగు లెస్స" - శ్రీ కృష్ణ దేవరాయలు. తెలుగు వారందరికీ తెలుగు భాషాదినోత్సవ శుభాకాంక్షలు, మీ అల్లు శిరీష్.#తెలుగుభాషాదినోత్సవం#TeluguLanguageDay

— Allu Sirish (@AlluSirish) August 29, 2020