Exclusive Interview with Bunny

Allu Arjun is a hard worker and fighter. He competes with himself. His entry in films might be because of the family background. But, whatever he has achieved so far is due to his passion, talent and extreme hard work. He is regarded as the best dancer in Telugu film industry. He is the only Telugu star who made it big in Malayalam film industry. Allu Arjun is an outspoken guy who doesn’t mince words to speak his mind out. Here is an exclusive interview with Allu Arjun on the occasion of Julayi’s super success....


The journey in films
I made my debut at an early age with Gangotri. It was a good launch and the film was a hit.

My second film Arya got positive mouth talk, but it didn’t open to house full collections. It started off with 70% occupancy. The second week collections were higher than the first week. And third week too had witnessed phenomenal rise. This film was made with 4 crores of budget. We had thought that it would be an achievement if Arya makes 10 crores share. Arya ended up by making 18 crores share. Arya went on to become a classic film.

3rd film Bunny was also started off with a divide talk and went on to become a hit.

I got good mileage for my 4th film Happy. But commercially it wasn’t successful.

My 5th film Desa Muduru made me a star. It was a cult hit. It was the first film where a Telugu film hero had a six pack body. It was not fashionable for Telugu film heroes to have long hair. I had a pretty long hair. The dances and songs were a rage. Tommy Hilfiger inner-wear got highlighted as we made it as a fashion statement. Desa Muduru has collected a share of 25 crores which was very huge at that time.

My 6th film Parugu was a sleeper hit. It was not for morning show crowds on day one. Hence a huge negative talk was generated. Slowly and steadily, this film became a solid hit.

My 7th film is Arya 2. There were a lot of expectations on this film as it was the sequel to the classic Arya. Since it’s an urbane film, it was appreciated by class audiences. The screening of this film was stopped due to Telangana Bandh when Arya 2 was going great guns in Nizam. It generated huge share in Nizam by then. I keep getting compliments for Arya 2 even today. I personally feel that my best dance movements are there in Arya 2 songs.

My 8th film is Vedam. Vedam was a statement maker for all those people who say that Tollywood doesn’t experiment. After watching the rushes of Vedam, dad said that it will remain as a special film in my career irrespective of commercial result. I was respected as an actor with that movie. I went to the premiere of Gamyam as an obligation. I though I was wasting time till the Allari Naresh character entered the movie. I got so much hooked onto the film that I was standing and clapping for five minutes after the film is complete. I met Krish for the first time at premiere and hugged him after watching the movie. Later on, I spoke with him and told him how much I liked it. Then he narrated me a subject of his next film. His intention was not to cast me. I told him that I would do ‘Cable Raju’ character. He discouraged me from doing Vedam. But I told him that since it’s a different subject, I would cut my remuneration by half. Others followed the suit and Anushka too cut her remuneration by half. I knew that if we don’t sacrifice our remunerations, a film of this kind would never be made with popular actors. I am extremely proud of working for this movie and the producers made money because actors/technicians understood the value of good cinema and worked for less remunerations.

My 9th film was Varudu. The output of Varudu is not what we had expected when we started making the movie. Despite of a bad talk, Varudu had good revenues. Varudu is a blessing in disguise for me. The trade pundits were amazed by the numbers it generate for the kind of talk it has got. They started believing that I am a crowd puller. I got a reputation of box office puller with Varudu. It was one of my most disappointing films though it tells good values about Indian marriage system. The publicity for this film was tremendous.

My 10th film was Badrinath. We did immense publicity and the openings were outstanding. For the kind of talk it generated, people do lose hopes. But I believe in damage control. I never give up and fight for it till the last show. I have promoted the film extremely well though I knew that the talk was very bad. I have strength to fight in a lost battle till the last moment. Though it paid relatively less in urban pockets, Badrinath was a huge puller in B and C centers. I got huge compliments for my steps in Badrinath. I feel that my dances for Badrinath as good as my dances for Arya 2. But Sukumar feels that Badrinath dances are my best. Badrinath is a big hit in Karnataka. It is the second highest Telugu grosser in Karnataka after Magadheera.

My 11th film is Julayi. I was in a low. I didn’t have success after Parugu film. My last three were in minus. Trivikram’s last film was in minus. The Telugu film market has grown exponentially in the last 3 / 4 years. When I met Trivikram, he told me that he knows my strengths and he wanted to extract a new angle from me. I am known as a boy-next-door, street-smart guy and sweet eve teaser in all my films. he wanted my character to neither underplay not overplay. He has created a wonderful character and I submitted myself to the direction of Trivikram. I got appreciation for my different acting, new look and new dances (each song has variation in dances).

I personally liked the philosophy behind Julayi. People want to make quick money. The youngsters of current generation are after quick money. Our parents generation is about hard work and financial discipline. It was a life-time achievement for a middle-class honest person to own a house. There are 5% of people in society who made quick money and mostly through unlawful methods. But 95% of the people still have a life time dream of owning a house by the time they retire from their job. Julayi addresses the most common conflict we see between father - son (two generations) regarding how money should be made in 95% of the households in India.

Julayi is the first film in my career where I have got both positive talk and excellent openings. Movie lovers have a special talent to guess the movie result by looking at posters and trailers. They felt that movie is going to be good even before the release. Julayi had all the ingredients to be an universal film (a film that is liked by all types of audiences).

You have worked with almost all big directors except for Rajamouli and Seenu Vytla. When can we expect these combinations?
I I had expressed my desire to work with Rajamouli during Magadheera time. He is a kind of director who prefers actors as per the script demand. If any of his future films demand me, I will be get an offer for sure. I loved Seenu Vytla’s Anandam and we are in constant touch since then. There will be a film Seenu Vytla combination in near future.

Racha, Gabbar Singh and Julayi. The mega family has 3 consecutive hits in a span of 125 days. How do you feel about it?
It is a rare opportunity to have 3 back-to-back blockbusters from the same family. We didn’t have a good time at box office in the past two years. We are getting good hits now because we chose right subjects. Our fan base is huge and all they wanted was a film with decent content to make to a blockbuster.

Mega family has the unique ability of converting a film with average content into a blockbuster. What is the reason?
There is only one reason. That is Chiranjeevi’s continuous effort for 25 years. His legacy is helping us now. We have grown under a big tree called Chiranjeevi. It is like a company started by Chiranjeevi. CEOs change generation after generation. But the legacy and quality will continue for ever. Chiranjeevi is the biggest brand of Telugu film industry. He has pushed the limits of Telugu cinema market beyond the imagination. At one point of time (Gharana Mogudu) the share of Chiranjeevi’s film in AP used to be more than Amitabh Bachan films which release nationwide. Chiranjeevi has introduced the tradition/habit of film watching in Andhra Pradesh. Pawan Kalyan has caught up with that later and now we are continuing it. Chiranjeevi is one of the biggest pillar that supported Telugu cinema. We are the crowd pullers. If film supports us in terms of content, sky is the limit for the collections.

If you get scripts of Vedam/Arya2 type. Will you do it?
If I am in plus, I will definitely do it. If I have a couple of blockbusters on my back, I don’t mind doing my third film in new genre. I compromise on my remuneration and promote it aggressively. I am like a lone soldier who can win battle for films like Vedam and Arya 2.

What is the secret of capturing Malayalam market. You are the only Telugu hero to do so?
I don’t know the logic. It is just magic. I didn’t put any efforts at personal level for Malayalam market. It was opened with Arya and Arya 2 was a big hit in Malayalam. I think they saw a welcoming contrast in my films compared to what they have been watch in Malayalam cinema. I also have an under-current women following and a lot of Muslim following in Kerala. Some people say that I look like a Malayali and I take it as a compliment.

What’s your reading on Sirish who is making his debut as an actor?
He is an intelligent and knowledgeable guy. He is not insecure. I am insecure and I get panicked very easily. But Sirish has a lot of composure in crisis situations. I have not seen any of his work in acting/dancing/dialogues etc, so I can’t comment on that factor. But I can say that he will carve a niche for himself with the selection of scripts like Abhay Deol in Bollywood. He is concentrating in bilingual market (Telugu and Tamil) right from the first movie.

How do feel about outstanding openings in USA for Julayi?
I didn’t get any universal hit after the USA market grew. Julayi is one such universal film and I am extremely happy with the commercial success of Julayi in overseas. I give due credit to Trivikram who is a phenomenal brand among Telugu NRIs. I hope to do more movies that cater to USA market in the future.

You have so many films that crossed 20 crores. But your popularity is under-current?
That’s because my target audiences are most family crowds and ladies. They watch movies, but don’t talk overtly about my movies.

What is the contribution of Allu Arvind in your career?
I narrate all the scripts I liked to him. He tells me the pros and cons, but lets me take my own decision.

What is your next film?
It will be directed by Puri Jagan after the completion of Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu film.

Interview by Jeevi