“I think I am most inspired by megastar Amitabh Bachchan,” says Pushpa star Allu Arjun

December 17, 2021 - 12:28 PM IST

Allu Arjun, also known as stylish star, and now icon star, is one of India's most well-known actors. His latest film Pushpa: The Rise Part 1's trailer was released earlier this month, and based on the glimpses, the film looks to be an intriguing action-thriller. The film is set against the backdrop of red sandalwood and how billions of dollars in cargo are smuggled out of Andhra Pradesh's Seshachalam woods.

“I think I am most inspired by megastar Amitabh Bachchan,” says Pushpa star Allu Arjun

The film, which will be released on December 17, is one of Arjun's largest and most anticipated releases, but it will face fierce competition from Hollywood superhero flick Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was released on December 16 and has already received a large advance booking.

When asked about the rivalry, the actor stated that bringing the audience back to the theatres was more important to him. “Due to the pandemic, the culture of watching films in theatres has receded. I am not just looking for my own film Pushpa. I believe that Spider-Man should get the audience back to theatres and similarly our film should aim at getting back the fans back to theatres. It is all about celebrating cinemas. Cinema should win and not just Indian cinema but world cinema overall. Next week we have Ranveer Singh and director Kabir Khan’s film 83 releasing, and I wish them all the luck and hope they too get the audiences back. I would also like to take the opportunity and congratulate the team of Sooryavanshi for instilling faith in the audience," he stated.

While Arjun expressed his gratitude for being able to build a name for himself in the Telugu business with Pushpa: The Rise Part 1, he highlighted his desire to broaden his horizons and do a pure Hindi film. He also said at the press event,.“I love Hindi cinema. I have grown up watching it. I definitely want to do a straight Hindi film. It will be a landmark point in my career and I want to make the best possible choice for it. There have been a few offers but nothing really interesting or exciting has come up. Also, people who come to me, they say they have to come with something solid. Once everything falls into place, I’ll try to plan and come up with something big,".

When it comes to Hindi films, the actor cites superstar Amitabh Bachchan as one of his main influences. He said, “I think I am most inspired by megastar Amitabh Bachchan. I absolutely adore his filmography through such a long span of his career. I have grown up watching his films, he’d had an immense impact on me, in my growing-up years. Even at his age today he is acting in such fantastic films, he motivates through his work.”

Pushpa: The Rise was originally going to be in one piece, but they decided to split it into two. According to Arjun, the material they had on hand dictated that the film be split into two parts. “When director Sukumar narrated the script it was a four-hour film. So, I asked him how would we make it into a three-hour film, and he said we will compress it somehow. But when we got on to shooting, it became even more decompressed. That’s when we realized that the film cannot be made in one part alone,” he explained. “It won’t be fun to talk about it right now. Let the first part release and allow the audience to see and understand the end after which we will talk about the second part."

The film was shot during the pandemic, which was a big task for the South star. “This was one the most difficult films to shoot. We were shooting in a forest with around 500 people. The logistics including providing food, accommodation and keeping the sanitizations, and following all protocols was really difficult. I have always maintained that shooting for this film was equivalent to shooting for four films," he said.

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