Allu Arjun says he was sad when he received National Award for Pushpa: ‘It didn’t happen for so long…’

In a recent appearance on the show Unstoppable with NBK, Allu Arjun, who is gearing up for the release of the sequel of Pushpa discussed the moment when he won the award. Bringing up the subject, NBK said, “Since Telugu film industry made films, this is the first time in 67 years when a Telugu actor bagged a National Award for Best Actor. You promised you would earn respect at the national level for commercial cinema and you kept your promise. How did you feel then?

He said, “Once I was checking the list of national award winners and I couldn’t find even a single Telugu name. I just saw Nagarjuna sir’s name, but he too had received it for some special role. There was no one as Best Actor. It stayed in my mind.”

He added, “I thought to myself, ‘There were so many great actors. How did they miss it? How did your generation miss it? What about previous generations? With so many stalwarts in acting in Tollywood, how did we not get the award?”

Allu Arjun confessed, “I was more sad than happy when I received that award. I was feeling it took so long for a Telugu star to receive this.” He said, it was at this moment when he decided this won’t be his last. “I will clinch it.”

‘I did Pushpa for National Award’

The actor further revealed that he had been manifesting National Award ever since he began conversations around Pushpa. He said, “I am sharing this for the first time. I haven’t told this to anybody before. When Sukumar and I were planning Pushpa… as soon as he narrated me the story, I requested him just one thing, ‘I don’t mind even if the film is not a hit. But I must win the National Award for this film and that will be possible only if you will make it happen.”

“He said, ‘I will try my best to make sure you get the National Award. And then you won’t believe this… for every single shot… he would say, ‘Darling, for a National Award this range is not good enough.” This happened over every take and shot. Every conversation between both of us used to be about that.”

NBK quipped, “So, you already had National Award in your mind?” Allu Arjun admitted, “I had it in my mind. Now that I have won it, I think I can say this. I was manifesting it. I knew my target since the beginning and my focus remained on the same.”

‘Love Pawan Kalyan’s courage, Ranbir Kapoor is my personal favourite’

In the same episode, the actor also shared his views on his uncle Pawan Kalyan and fellow actor Ranbir Kapoor.

When shown a picture of Pawan Kalyan, Allu Arjun said, “Respect, Kalyan Gowda. I like his courage. All the leaders and business people in society follow me. But when I see him live, I really love how brave he is. He is very daring person among all of them.”

When the actor was shown a picture of Ranbir Kapoor, Allu Arjun shared the Animal actor is his personal favourite. He said, “Across Bollywood, Ranbir Kapoor is one of the finest actors. In this generation, he is a wow actor. He is also my personal favourite actor. I like him a lot.”

Hearing him speak about Ranbir Kapoor, NBK said, “You two should star together in a multi-starrer film. I give you both six months. Work on a script and if nobody will write a script for you two, I will take it in my own hands. I don’t mind directing it too.”

Allu Arjun added, “My father will produce it.”