Starring: Allu Arjun, Anuradha, Siva Balaji, Venu Madhav, Sunil, Rajan P Dev, Subbaraju
Director: Sukumar
Released on: May 7, 2004
Story: Geetha (Anuradha) is a college student. Ajay (Siva Balaji) falls in love with her and blackmails her to love him. Ajay is the son of a local political big shot and so Geetha is forced to accept his love out of fear. Just then, Aarya (Allu Arjun) enters the college and falls in love with Geetha at first sight and confesses his love for her. She rejects his proposal and says that she is already in a relationship with Ajay. Aarya does not give up and keeps going after Geetha. Did Aarya succeed in his love or not and did the relationship between Geetha and Ajay work out despite the entry of Aarya forms the rest of the story.
Performances: After an impressive debut with Gangotri, Allu Arjun showed a huge improvement in his second film Aarya. He looks more manly and physically fit in this film. He got a chance to show his capabilities in all departments like romance, comedy, action, dances and emotional scenes and he did a fabulous job and is very impressive for someone in their second film. Anuradha too does well in a well-written role which is a mix of confusion and innocence. Siva Balaji does well as the spoilt brat of the college. His role too carries multiple shades. Other supporting actors like Rajan P Dev, Subbaraju and Venu Madhav got the scope to show their mettle in a couple of scenes. Sunil, who appears in a single train sequence entertains with his ‘Punch’ comedy.
Technicalities: Aarya is a technically class film. After award-winning works in Tamil, ace cinematographer Rathnavelu made his Telugu debut with Aarya. His work in this film is brilliant and his constant collaboration with Sukumar has always resulted in visually brilliant films. Music is another major asset for this film. All songs by Devi Sri Prasad are very popular even today. ‘Aa Ante Amalapuram’ and ‘Feel My Love’ are evergreen hits and still are very popular and widely listened to in the Telugu states. Marthand K Venkatesh’s neat editing work is another major plus and helps in the seamless flow of the film. Sukumar’s dialogues are another major plus for the film, especially the logical ones on one side-love. There are limited action sequences in the film but they are impactful. Production values by Dil Raju definitely deserve a mention.
Screenplay-Direction: Today, everybody knows what a genius writer Sukumar is but Sukumar has shown what he is capable of in his very first film. His command on the script and characterisations is brilliant and such brilliance is possessed by very few directors. Sukumar’s hero characterisation is always unique and stands out when compared with other directors. The film starts with a poetic touch and then shifts to college atmosphere and love portions. The second half turns a bit serious and allows scope for some action and emotional scenes. The climax is beautifully executed with a feel-good emotional touch. In this way, the film is perfectly packaged to make it work commercially. At the same time, the film never loses grip on its core plot and emotions. Sukumar deserves full credit for his clarity of thought and perfect execution on his debut. Each scene offers some kind of freshness and possesses great repeat value. Among the love stories that came out at that time, Aarya is definitely something fresh and unique. If released during present times, this film would have been criticised for its excessive stalking but for the time of the release of this film it worked wonders and connected immensely with the youth.
Conclusion: Aarya was a box office blockbuster and a great debut for Sukumar and a great second outing for Allu Arjun and Dil Raju. It also introduced brilliant technicians like Rathnavelu to Tollywood and also laid the foundation for one of the best and most loved Director-Music Director combination of Sukumar and Devi Sri Prasad. Aarya was also dubbed into Malayalam and remade in several languages including Tamil starring the talented Dhanush. The film won several awards including the Filmfare and Nandi Awards for Sukumar and a special Nandi jury award for Allu Arjun. This film set the right tone and start for Allu Arjun’s career and a sequel for Aarya was also made in 2009 which couldn’t meet the standards set by the original but is a musical hit. When someone is asked to suggest the best love stories made in Telugu especially after 2000, then the list would be incomplete without Aarya.
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