Tollywood actor Allu Arjun may be one of the most sought-after actors in South India, and the action thriller Pushpa: The Rise has given him pan-India fame, but there was a time the actor was struggling to find the next project after his first movie.
The actor, who made his Tollywood debut with Gangotri in 2003, recently revealed that although his first movie was a hit, he couldn't find work after that as he did not look great. He was speaking at an event to mark 20 years of his blockbuster movie Arya.
Allu Arjun recalled: "The film (Gangotri) was a blockbuster but it’s my failure as an artiste that I couldn’t make a mark. I went from 0 to -100, I was a nobody.
It was then that Arya director Sukumar approached him. "He (Sukumar) was a debut director but I liked what he had written. Chiranjeevi also heard the script, I also received a shield from him when the film completed 125 days in theatres against all odds," Hindustan Times quoted the actor as saying.
He said when he watched the Ravi Teja movie Idiot, he wanted to do something similar. "Arya is my Idiot. I knew I could dance well and I just wanted the opportunity to prove it. I got that with the song, Thakadhimithom,” the actor added.
Allu Arjun will be next seen in the movie Pushpa 2: The Rule, which is the second installment in the Pushpa film series. The movie also stars Fahadh Faasil, Rashmika Mandanna, Dhananjaya, Rao Ramesh, and Sunil.