Arya (2004 film)

Arya is a 2004 Indian Telugu-language romantic action comedy film written and directed by debutant Sukumar. Produced by Dil Raju under Sri Venkateswara Creations banner, the film stars Allu Arjun, Anu Mehta, and Siva Balaji. The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad and cinematography was by R. Rathnavelu. The plot revolves around Aarya, an outgoing and free-spirited boy falling in love with Geetha, an introverted girl who is on the shield of another person Ajay.

Arya
Theatrical release poster
Directed bySukumar
Written bySukumar
Produced byDil Raju
Starring
CinematographyR. Rathnavelu
Edited byMarthand K. Venkatesh
Music byDevi Sri Prasad
Production
company
Distributed bySri Venkateswara Creations
Release date
  • 7 May 2004 (2004-05-07)
Running time
151 minutes
CountryIndia
LanguageTelugu
Budget₹4 crores
Box officeest.₹30 crores

Arya was released on 7 May 2004, the film received positive response and was commercially successful, grossing ₹30 crore worldwide.[1] It has developed a cult following[2] over the years. A dubbed version in Malayalam was released in 2006. The film was remade in Bangladeshi Bengali as Badha (2005), in Odia as Pagala Premi (2007) and in Tamil as Kutty (2010).[3][1] A spiritual sequel titled Arya 2 was released in 2009.

Arya is considered one of the best films of Allu Arjun and provided a major breakthrough in his career as an actor and brought recognition for Sukumar as a director in Telugu cinema.[4][5]

Plot

Geetanjali a.k.a. Geetha, a college student, goes to Kanyakumari on a trip. She finds a poem in a diary left on a beach and signs in it, saying that she wishes the poet will succeed in his love. Later on, her anklet falls into the ocean, and a guy jumps into the water in front of her eyes, but no one sees him resurfacing. However, Geetha did not see who jumped in the ocean. She dreams about the incident frequently with the idea that the guy who jumped has died, but her friends ask her to forget it.

Back to the present in Vishakhapatnam, here comes Ajay, a spoiled college student and the son of the local MP Avataram. He likes to flirt with beautiful girls and wants them to be his girlfriends. One day he sees Geetha and proposes to her. When she refuses, he threatens to jump from the top of the college building. Being afraid of being held responsible for a death, Geetha accepts the proposal with the thought that as some guy has already died for her, and she doesn't want someone to get hurt because of her and starts dating him. Aarya is a happy-go-lucky guy who enjoys his life with friends and kids. On his first day to the college, he sees Geetha, who was just confessing her love to Ajay, who was at the top of the college building, threatening her. Charmed by her beauty, Aarya falls in love with her and proposes to her. One day Avataram arranges a party in his house, and it so turns out that Ajay introduces Geetha to his father and persuades him to fix their marriage. Ajay's father, who initially pretended to accept his son's marriage with Geetha, turns tables upside down by introducing another girl Lalasa and announces that his son is going to marry Lalasa. He threatens his son not to marry anyone except Lalasa. Being embarrassed by the situation and helpless, Ajay sits down and starts to get frustrated. Aarya, who loves Geetha so much that he never hesitated to help her, decides to bring Ajay to Geetha and helps them elope. On their way, they are followed by Avataram's henchmen. They eventually find a train and get into it.

When they get down of the train in the night, they are shocked to see the leader of Avataram's henchmen, who forces Geetha to come with him, defying his boss' order. On the other hand, Ajay remains helpless, while Aarya fights all the men and finally defeats them, rescuing Ajay and Geetha. They walk on to the nearby town, which happens to be Aarya's hometown. Being tired, the three go to bed.

The next morning they wake up and realize that Ajay is missing. Aarya tries to convince Geetha that Ajay left to win over his father. This leaves private time for Aarya and Geetha, and they grow close to each other. Geetha starts liking Aarya and begins to understand him. When she tries to confess it to him, Ajay and his father return. Avataram agrees to get Ajay married to Geetha.

On the day of the wedding, Geetha finds out that Aarya was the guy who dove into the sea for her anklet and realizes that he came into her life much before Ajay. She realizes that while Ajay blackmailed her into loving him; Aarya just wanted to see her happy. Geetha also realizes that Aarya truly loves her, while Ajay was just acting on his impulse of wanting what he couldn't have. She leaves the wedding hall in tears and confesses her love to Aarya, and they both reconcile with each other, and this time he successfully throws the stone into the Plastic Coke Cup, indicating he truly succeeded in his love.

Cast

Production
Sukumar made his directorial debut through the film

Sukumar began working on the script of his directorial debut Aarya (2004) in Vishakhapatnam before joining the sets of Vinayak's Dil. Its producer Dil Raju assured that he would produce the film if Dil becomes a commercial success.[6] Sukumar chose to narrate the story of a boy who confess his love to a girl right in the beginning, opposed to films like Darr (1993), Kabhie Haan Kabhie Naa (1994), and Kaadhal Kondein (2003) where the protagonist's love/obsession for the female lead is revealed towards the end, as he found that idea an "obsolete" one.[7] Raju was impressed with Sukumar's script and Allu Arjun was selected as its protagonist after considering Ravi Teja, Nithin, and Prabhas. Anuradha Mehta and Siva Balaji were chosen for the other two lead roles.[8] R. Rathnavelu and Devi Sri Prasad were chosen as the film's director of photography and music director respectively; they both collaborated with Sukumar in many of his future projects.

Soundtrack
Arya
Soundtrack album to Arya by
Devi Sri Prasad
Released16 April 2004 (2004-04-16)
Recorded2004
GenreFeature film soundtrack
Length30:42
LanguageTelugu
LabelAditya Music
ProducerDevi Sri Prasad
Devi Sri Prasad chronology
Venky
(2004)		 Arya
(2004)		 Shankar Dada MBBS
(2004)

The success and popularity of the song "Aa Ante Amalapuram" song eventually led to its adaptation in the 2012 Hindi film Maximum.[9]

Track listing
No.TitleLyricsSinger(s)Length
1."You Rock My World"ViswaShaan, Premji Amaren5:00
2."Nuvvunte"Sirivennela Seetharama SastrySagar, Sumangali5:08
3."O My Brotheru"Sirivennela Seetharama SastryRavi Verma5:04
4."Thakadimithom"Surendra KrishnaTippu5:31
5."Feel My Love"ChandraboseKK, Clinton Cerejo4:55
6."Aa Ante Amalapuram"VeturiMalathy, Ranjith5:04
Total length:30:42

Malayalam (Dub)

Music is composed by Devi Sri Prasad and lyrics were penned by Mankombu Gopalakrishnan and Rajeev Alunkal

Track listing
No.TitleSinger(s)Length
1."Etho Priya Ragam"Madhu Balakrishnan05:09
2."Thakadhimithom"Jassie Gift04:59
3."Aa Kande Alakapuram"Reshmi, Devi Sri Prasad04:59
4."You Rock My Love"Afsal, Devi Sri Prasad04:39
5."Etho Priya Ragam"Shivani05:09
6."Oh My Brothere"Alex04:49
7."Aarya Proud of Youth"Anwar Sadath, Sayanora Philip03:37
8."Feel My Love"Vidhu Prathap04:57

Reception

Critical reception

Aarya received highly positive reviews from critics. idlebrain.com gave a review stating, "You feel like you are watching a Mani Rathnam film. There is a soul in the film and you end up having a thin layer of tears in your eyes while leaving the theater. This film announces the arrival of Sukumar – director – a class apart. 'Aarya' is a must watch film for all Telugu film lovers. Don't miss it" and rated the film 4/5, calling the film "A class apart".[10] IndiaGlitz gave a review stating "To start with, the hype machine was at work incessantly before the release of the movie. And after watching the film you also feel that there is a movie that is every inch worth its pre-release hype. Not only Aarya is expected to lead the pack in the long summer of seemingly never-ending releases but also give the hero of the film, Allu Arjun, a new identity. Aarya is an unabashed package showcasing Allu Arjun and his dancing and fighting abilities. The thing it looks like it will work at the box-office", further calling the film "A cocktail of fun and more fun".[11] fullhyderabad.com gave a review stating "Aarya is not at all what you expect it to be. It is a special package that consists of fun, entertainment, laughs, frolic, merriment, high times, bashes and more. It has them all. Romance, eternal love, mush, flowers, embraces, sacrifices, sunsets. It has them ALL. Action, fights, stunts, feats, tricks, battles, blood, bullies, henchmen, chases. Did we mention that this has it all? Emotions, sentiments, passion, craze and feelings. See one. See all," and rated the film 7/10.[12]

Box office

Aarya made on a budget of ₹4 crore, grossed about ₹30 crore.[1]

The film's dubbed version in Malayalam collected between ₹30–35 lakh in Kerala. Owing to the film's success, Allu Arjun received major acclaim across the region and the Malayali people and earned him fanbase there.[13]

Awards
52nd Filmfare Awards
2004 CineMAA Awards
2004 Nandi Awards
2004 Santosham Film Awards
2004 Gemini TV Awards
  • Best Director – Sukumar
  • Best Actor – Allu Arjun

References
  1. "16 Years for Aarya: Some of the interesting facts about the Allu Arjun starrer". The Times of India. 7 May 2020. Retrieved 10 August 2020.
  2. Chigurupati, Krishna Prasad. "Allu Arjun reminisces 'Arya' as the youthful-drama completes 15 years at the box-office". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 January 2023.
  3. "Meet Sabyasachi Mishra, the 'Half telugu' Odia superstar". The Times of India. 26 February 2017. Retrieved 3 March 2019.
  4. "19 years for 'Arya': Fans rejoice as the Allu Arjun starrer completes another milestone". The Times of India. 8 May 2023. ISSN 0971-8257. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  5. "17 Years Of Arya: COVID-Positive Allu Arjun Calls It The "Greatest Miracle" Of His Life". NDTV.com. Retrieved 9 September 2023.
  6. Chinnarayana 2015, p. 10.
  7. Kumar, Hemanth (6 May 2011). "Sukumar – The Reluctant Perfectionist". South Scope. Archived from the original on 15 June 2011. Retrieved 18 February 2016.
  8. Chinnarayana 2015, p. 11.
  9. "Court stays release of 'Aa Ante Amalapuram' in the movie 'Maximum'". Firstpost. 26 June 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2019.
  10. "Movie review – Aarya". idlebrain.com. Retrieved 7 May 2004.
  11. "Aarya – A cocktail of fun and more fun". IndiaGlitz. Archived from the original on 24 October 2004. Retrieved 10 May 2004.
  12. "Aarya Review". fullhyderabad.com. Retrieved 7 May 2004.
  13. "Bunny-Hot in Kerala!". Sify. 2 April 2007. Archived from the original on 7 June 2007. Retrieved 10 August 2020.

Bibliography
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