Is Allu Arjun Kerala’s Second Biggest Non-Mallu Superstar?

The 8th of April, or Allu Arjun's birthday, is no ordinary day for Thiruvananthapuram-based Prabhu VR. Born in the same year as his favourite Telugu superstar, Prabhu was coordinating a State-wide charitable exercise to provide meals to old-age homes, and sweets to orphanages across all of Kerala’s 14 districts, when we spoke to him over a phone call. This may sound logistically complex but it’s also something Prabhu has been doing ever since he co-founded the All Kerala Stylish Star Allu Arjun Fans & Welfare Association or the AFWA, way back in 2006. Prabhu is someone you may call an OG fan of Allu’s, that rare Malayali fanboy who started following the star even before his films got dubbed into Malayalam. 

“Vijith, a friend of mine was working in Hyderabad in the 2000s,” begins Prabhu recalling that phase. “Even before we had heard of Allu Arjun, Vijith kept talking to me about this new star who was also related to Megastar Chiranjeevi, so when I visited him in Hyderabad, he took me along to watch his movies. Even though I could not follow the language, there was something that drew me strongly to Allu Arjun. It may have been his dance moves, his style or his fashion, but I could see something other Malayalis would discover soon.”

This was exactly what distributor Khader Hassan too saw in Allu Arjun, urging him to bring the star’s film to Kerala. He had watched the star’s songs and his trailers on a trip to Hyderabad and he bought the rights for Arya (2004) and decided to dub it in Malayalam. For he saw in Allu Arjun, traces of his uncle Chiranjeevi and the Tamil superstar Vijay. Both of them had created a fan base in Kerala and they were both great dancers. It was a reasonably safe bet to take. He says, “It was a film with that totality. It had great songs and it had all the elements that made it larger than the realistic, serious films of Malayalam then.”

‘Like Vijay From His 20s’

Yet despite urban legend of the film’s immediate success in Kerala, it was upon its second release that it found an audience. According to this legend, Khader Hassan went all in for this second release to the point where he pledged his own house to market the film. “There were not enough promotions when it was released the first time,” adds Prabhu. “But for its second release, along with presenter Khader Hassan, we fans gave it a real shot. We started putting up posters of his films in front of schools and colleges. I remember travelling to Thenkasi to print posters myself even though I hardly had an income then. We had also started to pay local channels across cities to get them to play songs from Arya with the hope that it would catch on.” 

It obviously did and the song ‘Aa Ante Amalapuram’ remains an all-time viral sensation in Kerala. Suddenly everyone wanted to know more about the hero of the song and the re-release became a huge success. “Nowadays, when you listen to a Telugu-dubbed Malayalam song, you know it is a dubbed song,” says film critic Aswathy Gopalakrishnan, who has written in detail about the Allu Arjun phenomenon. “Back then, a professional Malayalam crew worked on Arya. The lyrics sounded authentic and they were written by real professional lyricists. We all knew the lyrics and we could sing along, a rarity for a Telugu dubbed film in Kerala.”

It also helped that Allu Arjun was unlike other stars of Malayalam back then and there were also hardly any rom-coms like Arya in that period. Aswathy adds,“Allu Arjun was the exact opposite in the first half of the 2000s. He was playful and his roles were that of the charming brat. He wasn’t exactly the typical macho guy. Even today, dancing is not a prerequisite to become a male Malayali superstar. But in Telugu, it’s imperative for a Telugu star to dance. He was a breath of fresh air and if you see the reasons why Malayalis love Vijay, you understand that Allu Arjun too was a natural fit. He was almost like the Vijay from back in his 20s.” 

Yet not enough credit is given to the effort that was put in to dub the film into Malayalam. Beyond the genius marketing and the fan clubs that were created around the release of Arya, it was also a film that translated very seamlessly into the Malayalam language. Filmmaker Jis Joy is known today as the Malayali voice for Allu Arjun as much as he is known for directing superhit films. He has dubbed 20 films for Allu Arjun and most Malayalis refuse to watch the Telugu original of his films because somewhere one feels a mismatch when they don’t hear Jis Joy. “I was then the voice of Kayamkulam Kochunni, a hit television serial of the time with a 1000-episode run. It was based on a legendary Robin-Hood-like character and the film’s distributor Khader Hassan specifically wanted Kochunni’s voice to be used for Allu Arjun.” 

“To be honest, I did not know Allu Arjun then and I was not able to see the potential of the film’s dubbed version. I took three days to dub it back then and my motivation was not too high. All that changed when I saw the film in Kochi’s Mymoon theatre on the second day. The reactions were the same for any Malayali superstar and it ran for 75 days!”

The star followed it up with back-to-back superhits with films like Bunny (2005), Happy (2006) and Desamuduru (2007). By the fifth film, it became impossible to separate Allu Arjun from Jis Joy’s voice. This made Joy the highest paid dubbing artist in Kerala and when Pushpa’s Malayalam dub took a day longer to release, Jis Joy couldn’t switch his phone on, given the number of disgruntled fans trying to reach him.   

A stardom unlike any other

A lot changed with the release of these subsequent hits. These dubbed films were bought by satellite television channels for a fraction of buying original Malayalam films and channels like Kairali and Surya played them repeatedly. The TRPs were high and the Malayalam version of his songs were a constant across television channels of that period. In terms of marketing, several techniques were used by his fans that made him a darling with all movie goers. Prabhu says, “Back then, we would put up cutouts and posters even for other superstars with our club names on it. Even if you were a Vijay fan then, you'd feel happy to see that Allu Arjun fans were promoting your star.” 

But for Jis Joy, it took Allu Arjun’s visit to Kerala to really understand the gravity of his phenomenon. Allu Arjun himself started marketing his films in Kerala towards the end of the 2000s and Jis Joy recalls the pandemonium on one such visit. “His manager had told me that Allu Arjun had wanted to meet me on that visit. His hotel was just five minutes away and I thought it would take me just a minute to see him and return. But one could mistake the scenes outside his hotel as a political rally. There were buses from across the state and it lined up the entire highway. I took several calls to be ushered into the hotel for a quick chat with him and a photo.” In his words, Vijay’s superstardom can be traced back to the superstardom enjoyed by Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, MGR and Shivaji Ganesan before him, but there hasn’t been anyone like Allu Arjun in Kerala. 

Telugu filmmaker Nandini Reddy attributes the actor’s unique success in the industry to his penchant for chasing greatness. “Malayalam cinema, as we know, has this beautiful jugalbandi of this really amazing kind of storytelling and at the same time, an appreciation of commercial cinema with a twist. Bunny firstly captivated them first with his dance. He is never in chill mode. He is always looking at what he can do next like ‘How can I make a fight look thematically interesting?’” Within the commercial movie space, he always tries to make himself fresh, she adds. “This is what people in Kerala have caught on to vis-a-vis dubbed films. It is that effort that made him a star not only among Malayali audiences, but also a pan Indian star. It is that effort to push the bar a little higher. I've always said this. If this man was an athlete, he would've been an Olympian.”

His dancing ability might have only been an intro point for fans, filmmaker Vivek Athreya points out. “For him, every film is his first and last film. When you approach something like that, it's unbeatable.  Allu Arjun's charm and personality is probably one of the main reasons behind his popularity in Kerala. His age and relevancy in the industry could be one of the reasons for a journey to start, but not to cherish completely. Just like how Vijay found his market in Kerala, Allu Arjun did too. But the way he took it to the next level is unbelievable.” Sita Ramam director Hanu Raghavapudi thinks there's something universal about his persona. "He looks at every film like a beginner with so much hardwork."

The Mallu Arjun Fandom

A lot has changed even for the fans in these 17 years. Their superstar has grown to become a legit pan-Indian superstar after the release of Pushpa: The Rise (2021) and the second part is said to be among the most awaited releases across the country, especially since the actor also added another feather to his cap with his National Film Award. But for the fan, the rise in their life isn’t as obvious as their star’s. “When I look back, I feel very happy seeing Allu Arjun turn into a Pan Indian star. In Kerala, we were able to build a fanbase with over one lakh registered members from nothing. Yet I wonder if those 17 years were always worth it. I once pledged my child’s gold to print posters for his new release. To promote one of his releases, I used some money I received from the sale of my land and this got me into a lot of trouble with my family. The journey has been bittersweet with a lot of love that has come in from the charitable activities. Yet no one understands the life of a fan in what they do for their superstar. You can make a movie about my love for Allu Arjun and all that I lost and gained in the process.” 

With inputs from Harshini SV and Sruthi Ganapathy Raman.