South star Allu Arjun hails from an influential film family of Telugu cinema, but it did not assure him success in the early days of his career. Allu Arjun, who has today been given the sobriquet Stylish Star, once missed out on film opportunities for the way he looked. This statement comes from the actor himself. He was speaking at an Hyderabad event, commemorating 20 years of his iconic film Arya. During the speech, he said that in spite of his debut film Gangotri being a hit, no one would sign him even after the success because he did not look like a conventional hero. “Gangotri was a blockbuster but it was my failure as an artiste that I couldn’t make a mark. I went from 0 to -100, I was a nobody,” he said. After a dull phase during which he said filmmakers and producers would ignore him, he landed the lead role in Sukumar’s Arya, which immediately catapulted him to the top league in Telugu cinema.
His fortunes took a turn when he attended a screening of the Nithiin-starrer Dil, alongside his friend and actor Tarun. He recounted, “That’s where Sukumar approached me for Arya. Though he was a debut director, I was intrigued by what he had penned. Chiranjeevi also took interest in the script, and I was honoured with a shield from him when the film defied all odds and completed 125 days in theatres. After watching Ravi Teja’s Idiot, I aspired to feature in a similarly stylish film. Arya became my Idiot. I was confident in my dancing abilities and was eager for the chance to showcase them, which I got with the song Thakadhimithom. He thanked Sukumar for believing in him and giving him his breakthrough film.
Sukumar teamed up with Allu Arjun years later again to give him his first pan-India film Pushpa: The Rise, which became a rage across the country. Both are now returning for the sequel titled Pushpa: The Rule.