Arya

Arya is a 2004 Telugu romantic action comedy written and directed by Sukumar in his directorial debut and produced by Dil Raju under Sri Venkateswara Creations. Allu Arjun stars with Anuradha Mehta and Siva Balaji, with music by Devi Sri Prasad and cinematography by R. Rathnavelu. Released on 7 May 2004, it was well reviewed and a commercial success, and is regarded as the film that made Allu Arjun a star and established Sukumar as a director. It has since gained a cult following and was followed by a spiritual sequel, Arya 2 (2009).

What the story is about

On a college trip to Kanyakumari, Geetha finds a poem in a diary left on the beach and writes in it, wishing the poet success in love. Later her anklet falls into the sea and a young man dives in after it, but she never sees him come up, and the memory haunts her. Back in Visakhapatnam, Ajay, the spoilt son of the local MP, proposes to her and, when she refuses, threatens to jump off the college building; afraid of another death on her account, Geetha says yes. Arya, a happy-go-lucky student on his first day at the college, sees that very moment, falls for Geetha on the spot and tells her so, even though she is now Ajay’s girlfriend, and sets out to win her over.

Cast

• Allu Arjun as Arya
• Anuradha Mehta as Geethanjali, “Geetha”
• Siva Balaji as Ajay
• Rajan P. Dev as MP Avataram, Ajay’s father
• Subbaraju as Subbu and Vidya as Geetha’s friend Shanti
• Sunil as “Punch” Falaknama, a ticket examiner, and Venu Madhav as Ajay’s friend
• Srikanth Addala in a special appearance, and Abhinayasri in the song “Aa Ante Amalapuram”

How it was made

Sukumar began writing Arya in Visakhapatnam before working on V. V. Vinayak’s Dil (2003), whose producer Dil Raju promised to make it if Dil succeeded. Sukumar deliberately had the hero declare his love at the very start, rather than revealing it at the end as in Darr or Kabhie Haan Kabhie Naa, an approach he found obsolete. Ravi Teja, Nithin and Prabhas were considered before Allu Arjun was cast. The film was launched on 20 November 2003, with Chiranjeevi clapping the first shot and Pawan Kalyan switching on the camera, as reported by Telugu Cinema. Rathnavelu and Devi Sri Prasad went on to work with Sukumar on many later films.

Music

Devi Sri Prasad composed the songs. “Aa Ante Amalapuram” was so popular that it was adapted for the 2012 Hindi film Maximum, as Firstpost reported. Sagar won the Nandi Award for Best Male Playback Singer.

Box office

According to The Times of India, Arya was made for ₹4 crore and was a commercial success. Wikipedia, citing that same article, gives its gross in two places as ₹31.1 crore worldwide and as about ₹30 crore, so the exact figure is uncertain. The Malayalam dub collected ₹1.1 crore in Kerala and, according to Sify, won Allu Arjun a large following there. A Hindi dub, Arya Ki Prem Pratigya, followed in 2011.

What critics said

Idlebrain.com rated it 4 out of 5, calling it “a class apart” and comparing it to a Mani Ratnam film. IndiaGlitz called it “a cocktail of fun and more fun” that was worth its pre-release hype, and Fullhyderabad.com gave it 7 out of 10.

Awards and remakes

Sukumar won the Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu and the Nandi Award for Best Screenplay Writer, and Allu Arjun received a Nandi Special Jury Award. Arya was remade in Bangladeshi Bengali as Badha (2005), in Odia as Pagala Premi (2007), in Bengali as Pagal Premi (2007), in Sinhala as Adaraye Namayen (2008) and in Tamil as Kutty (2010).

Where to watch Arya

We do not have a confirmed streaming platform for Arya on file. The OTT details on this page will be updated when a platform’s own listing confirms it.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Arya and the reviews and reports it cites, linked above; Wikidata; our own cast and crew records.