Allu Arjun recalls his 18 consecutive flops, took one year off to introspect: ‘I delivered by biggest hit after that, then Pushpa…'

Indian Express

05-05-2025

Allu Arjun may be a box office force to reckon with now, but there was a time not too long ago when he delivered 18 flops. That long lull prompted him to take a year off to introspect. Arjun considers it a great decision in hindsight now, given his biggest hits, including the Pushpa franchise, followed that break.
'Eighteen of my films failed at the box office. They didn't do so well. I wanted to take a break for six months. Accidentally, it happened to be 12-13 months. But I wanted a seven- to eight-month break and I wanted to introspect. I wanted to take some time off. I took a year off, almost a year, by accident though. There was a lot of introspection being done,' said Arjun at WAVES Summit 2025 in Mumbai.
'Genuinely, that was one of the best breaks I had. Because after that, I had Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, which was my biggest hit and an industry record. It's one of the biggest Telugu hits ever. After that, there was Pushpa and Pushpa 2. One year really helped me introspect a lot,' added Arjun.
Son of veteran film producer and distributor Allu Aravind, Arjun made his acting debut as a child artist in A. Kodandarami Reddy's Vijetha, which was backed by his father's production house Geetha Arts. Arjun made his debut as a lead actor in K. Raghavendra Rao's 100th directorial venture, Gangotri, in 2003.
However, Arjun's career soon began to take a beating. He delivered flops like Sukumar's 2009 action romance Arya 2, a sequel to their 2004 hit Arya. More flops followed, like Gunasekhar's 2010 action romance Varudu and Vakkantham Vamsi's 2018 action film Naa Peru Surya. After taking a year-long break, Arjun returned with a bang with Trivikram Srinivas' 2020 action drama Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo.
He raised the stakes further with another blockbuster in Sukumar's 2021 period gangster film Pushpa: The Rise. Arjun made history with that film, becoming the first Telugu actor to win the National Award for Best Actor. He broke several box office records with the sequel, Sukumar's Pushpa 2: The Rule, last year as it became the highest grossing film in India.
Arjun is all set to collaborate with Atlee and Trivikram Srinivas for his next two projects respectively. The currently untitled movie with Atlee was officially announced on the occasion of Arjun's 43rd birthday last month. 'Magic with mass & a world beyond imagination! #AA22. Teaming up with @Atlee_dir garu for something truly spectacular with the unparalleled support of @sunpictures,' Arjun wrote on X.
Atlee, known for Tamil films Mersal, Theri, and Hindi movie Jawan, wished the actor on his birthday. 'Happy Birthday @alluarjun sir, Love you sir. Thank you Kalanithi Maran sir & @sunpictures for making my dream a reality. Let's have a blast GEAR UP #A22xA6,' the filmmaker wrote.