Allu Arjun's Arya Completes 20 Years, The Actor Says Director Sukumar Changed His Life The Most

Allu Arjun’s second film ‘Arya’ completed 20 years on Tuesday. Released in 2004, this film established his collaboration with director Sukumar, who also gave him Pan-India stardom in ‘Puspha: The Rise’.

Allu Arjun’s second film Arya, directed by Sukumar, completed 20 years on Tuesday. ( Image Source :X/@alluarjun )

Arya completes 20 years: Allu Arjun’s second film ‘Arya’, which started his stardom journey in Telugu cinema, completed 20 years on Tuesday. Released in 2004, this film established his collaboration with director Sukumar, who also gave him Pan-India stardom in ‘Puspha: The Rise’. Allu Arjun took to social media to express his gratitude, sharing nostalgic moments from the set along with unseen pictures. 

Allu Arjun celebrates 20 years of Arya
The actor shared a poster of the film commemorating the film's two-decade anniversary and wrote, “20 years of Arya. It’s not just a movie… It’s a moment in time that changed the course of my life. Gratitude forever.” 

20 years of Arya. It’s not just a movie … it’s a moment in time that changed the course of my life . Gratitude forever . pic.twitter.com/DIYyWIP7ig

— Allu Arjun (@alluarjun) May 7, 2024

In another tweet, he included old pictures with co-actors Anuradha Mehta and Siva Balaji, along with a young Sukumar in the same frames with the caption, “Sweet Memories.” 

Sweet Memories 🖤 #20yearsofArya pic.twitter.com/wp9cXaMeTB

— Allu Arjun (@alluarjun) May 7, 2024

Allu Arjun on Sukumar
During a special event commemorating ‘Arya's’ anniversary, Allu Arjun said that director Sukumar had the biggest impact on his life. “If there is a person in my life, who has changed my life the most… if I look back on my life after two or thirty years and have to say ‘Who is the single person that had the maximum impact on my life?’ I would say Sukumar Sir. There’s no other person who is even remotely close to him. My association with him has changed my life forever. He brought this train (referring to himself) from a remote forest and put it on a track,” he was quoted as saying Indian Express. 

Allu Arjun wasn’t the first choice for Arya
Sukumar also shared that initially, they were considering other actors like Ravi Teja and Prabhas for the lead role. Sukumar recounted, "I saw Bunny (Allu Arjun) at the special preview of Dil and was amazed by his body language and persona. I narrated the first half of Arya to him, and he was very happy." 

‘Arya’, also starring Anuradha Mehta, and Siva Balaji, not only became a commercial success but also garnered critical acclaim, leading to a Tamil remake starring Dhanush and Shriya Saran. 

On the work front, Allu Arjun is currently gearing up for the release of ‘Pushpa: The Rule,’ co-starring Rashmika Mandanna and Fahadh Faasil. The film is scheduled for release on August 15 this year.