It is interesting how the biggest stars of Telugu cinema today made their debuts almost one after the other at the turn of the new millennium. Mahesh Babu started off in 1999, followed by Jr NTR in 2001, Prabhas in 2002, and Allu Arjun in 2003. Of course, the next set came soon after with Ram Charan in 2007, Nani in 2008, and Naga Chaitanya in 2009. It was almost like all of this was planned to give each of the star kids a year’s headstart. Of course, Nani, as always, is an outlier.
The origin of the word ‘Nepotism’ comes from the word ‘Nephew’ and that was exactly the calling card for birthday boy Allu Arjun. While he was the son of noted producer Allu Arvind, whose Geetha Arts has a legacy of over five decades, he was also projected as the nephew of ‘Megastar’ Chiranjeevi and ‘Power Star’ Pawan Kalyan. But it is to be noted that Telugu cinema is not like today’s Hindi cinema where nepotism is looked at as a bad phenomenon. People embrace star kids, and elevate them to superstardom if they strongly back the family. But things were different for Allu Arjun simply because Allu Arjun was a different guy.
Of course, he made use of the brands of Allu Arvind, Chiranjeevi, and Pawan Kalyan, but Allu Arjun was a brand like no other simply because he captured the imagination of the youth. It isn’t to say Mahesh Babu or Jr NTR or Prabhas or anyone else didn’t have the youth audience, but they were seen as superstars who are worth elevating… Allu Arjun was the one who they thought they could emulate. And it is this aspect of his persona that he kept working on. And it is almost like this entire batch of superstars were so assured of their stardom that they weren’t people in a hurry.
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In his 22-year-old career, Allu Arjun has done just 21 films, and is ready to kickstart his 22nd project. This time has allowed him to carefully construct his image and notch up an envious filmography. Despite reaching dizzying heights of success with his second film, Arya, Allu Arjun played it down. He got into a market that wasn’t easy to crack — Malayalam cinema audience. The youth of Kerala needed a star to ‘follow’ and bam! Allu Arjun and Sukumar gave them Arya who was cool, suave, wore nice t-shirts, sported a different hair-do, and had this air of nonchalance around him.
Allu Arjun in Arya 2.
He was rechristened Mallu Arjun, and his next set of films, Bunny and Happy, were as big a success in Kerala as it was in Andhra Pradesh. He was also slowly making his mark in Tamil Nadu with his films gaining a decent following, especially Arya 2. It coincided with the rise of social media and Allu Arjun was everywhere. His clips were being shared, his films were being remade, he was doing multistarrers with Tamil stars like Arya in Varudu, and Telugu stars like Manoj Manchu in Vedam. And yet, strangely, Allu Arjun never moved away from doing Telugu films.
By 2014, the colour of Allu Arjun’s films started to change. And by then, Naga Chaitanya had done a role in Tamil with Vinnaithaandi Varuvaaya, and headlined its Telugu version, Ye Maaye Chesave. Ram Charan released his Magadheera as Maaveeran in Tamil, and also made his Hindi debut with Zanjeer. And Prabhas was working on a humungous project with SS Rajamouli, titled Baahubali. And yet, Allu Arjun bid his time. And most of his contemporaries in Tamil cinema were releasing their films in Telugu, and creating a market for themselves. Vikram and Suriya were huge stars, and even Karthi, who made his debut in 2007, found a strong base in Telugu by releasing the dubbed versions of his films. But Allu Arjun never did that in Tamil.
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In fact, in a 2012 interview, Allu Arjun said that he didn’t release his films in Tamil because he wanted to create a brand, a market value for himself, which could get diluted if there was a deluge of films that hit the market. He knew that one success would lead to the opening of the floodgates, and middlemen could release older films of his and dilute the market even before it could stand on its feet. That is why, Allu Arjun waited.
Even when Baahubali became this blockbuster success that opened Telugu markets all over the country, and the world, Allu Arjun bid his time. He didn’t jump on the bandwagon immediately. Of course, thanks to the success of his films that were dubbed in Hindi, he was a recognisable face in the Hindi belt too. But he slowly tested waters. He first started experimenting with the Tamil market with films like Sarrainodu, Duvvada Jagannadham, and Naa Peru Surya. In the same time, he also saw what happened when Mahesh Babu did Spyder, the first Tamil-Telugu bilingual of his career. Allu Arjun learned from others’ mistakes, and didn’t even try to do a bilingual, which would have increased his budget and made him a direct player in the market. He waited.
The blockbuster success of Ala Vaikunthapurramulo and the global pandemic changed things for Allu Arjun. It probably was the understanding that time was fickle-minded and the overarching sense of the futilities of well-orchestrated plans in the face of a global shutdown. Or simply, he trusted the man who gave him the first blockbuster of his career. Sukumar and Allu Arjun were reuniting for the first time in 12 years. And they came together to bring to the world, the Pushpa universe. As they say, rest is history.
Actor Allu Arjun with director Sukumar on the sets of Pushpa The Rise. (Credit: Facebook/@aryasukku)
Pushpa 1 was released at a time when Indian cinema was starved of commercial masala entertainers that would bring audiences back to theatres. Of course, there were other films that were released in the interim that made a lot of money, but the Indian theatre-going audience needed euphoria. And that was exactly what Pushpa gave them. The film was a success in the South, but it became a phenomenon in the Hindi belt. The movie was something that happened just once in an actor or a filmmaker’s lifetime. It made a lot of money all over India, and the world. The character became iconic. It got plastered on locally made packets of savouries, all across the country. It made everyone involved household names. The songs became super successful. It created trends all over social media, and made even Australian cricketers dance to its tunes. Oh, and it won multiple National Awards. Not a lot of films that create this mass euphoria and manic hysteria also manage to convince the critics, and win big in the awards circuit. Pushpa was a phenomenon that was going to be the benchmark for years to come.
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Three years later, Pushpa 2 happened, and almost everything happened, all over again. They say lightning doesn’t strike the same place twice, but in this case, it did. And that is simply because nothing was left to fate. Allu Arjun and team carefully constructed this rise. It would have been lucrative to expand his market years before he finally did it with the Pushpa films. It would have been enticing to say yes to the many names that were being discussed as potential collaborators that would have marked his entry into Tamil or Hindi cinema. It would have been very tough to say No to a few projects that had everything going for it. But Allu Arjun bid his time to say ‘yes’ when it was only absolutely necessary, and say ‘no’ when it was extremely tough on him.
And now, as he turns 43, Allu Arjun is embarking on his biggest project to date. It will be backed by Sun Pictures, who have made films like Enthiran, Petta, Beast, and Jailer, and is one of the biggest banners in Indian cinema. It will be directed by Atlee, who has only grown from strength to strength with films like Mersal and Bigil in Tamil, and Jawan in Hindi. It will reportedly feature him in dual roles for the first time. It will reportedly be a film about parallel worlds and it is clear he can’t be boxed into one universe. It could be a Telugu-Tamil bilingual considering the names involved in the film, and mark a new chapter in the Allu Arjun story.
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Come what may, the world wants to know what Allu Arjun is doing next. The world wants to willingly hop on to this ride and go anywhere this dream merchant wants to take them. He is now the Pied Piper, and has the world listening to his tunes. And how did he do it all? As they say ‘Good things happen to those who wait, and better things come to those who work for it…’ and… Allu Arjun waited and worked like very few before him.
