Allu Arjun condemns Sri Reddy’s comment on Pawan Kalyan: What happened was very personal

Allu Arjun has extended his support for uncle and actor-turned-politician Pawan Kalyan over the personal attacks Sri Reddy made recently. He also slammed the “person” who made “personal attacks” at Pawan Kalyan. Sri had recently abused Kalyan after the superstar asked her to approach the police rather than taking her complaints to the media.

She lashed out at actor-politician Pawan Kalyan and scores of his fans for trolling her. “ You, Pawan Kalyan, who is thrice-married and has no respect for women, how dare you give us suggestions on what to do... I once called you anna (brother), but I take that back today. From now on, no woman will call you ‘anna’.” Sri Reddy later apologised to Kalyan after she faced a backlash from his fans. Arjun, who was talking at the audio launch of Naa Peru Surya Naa Illu, said, “A lot of people think he joined politics because his career in cinema was over. They’re wrong, because he joined politics when he was at the peak of his cinematic career. He left a luxurious life and crores of steady income to serve people. And is this what he gets in return? When you’re in politics, personal attack is very common. But what happened a few days ago was very personal and I condemn it strongly. I condemn the person who said it and also whoever made that person to say it. It’s really wrong on the part of all the channels who, without an iota of guilt, telecast such personal attacks for their TRPs.” The audio launch was held Sunday evening at Military Madhavaram, West Godavari.

In the Vakkantham Vamsi directed film, slated to hit the screens on May 4, Arjun plays a military officer with anger issues. Talking about the choice of venue for the audio launch, Arjun said, “We thought of several places to have the event. The military cantonment area and the academy were among the few places we had in mind. But, when our director told us about Madhavaram and how this place has had a strong military connection for many years, we immediately decided to have the audio launch here,” said Arjun, explaining why they chose Madhavaram over other usual venues. The film marks the directorial debut of Vamsi, best known for writing hit films such as Kick and Temper. Talking about the film, Arjun said, “In Naa Peru Surya, the hero has one main goal. He wants to serve in the Indian Army. I really liked the thought of playing a character ready to dedicate his life to the society and his country. My respect towards the military grew manifold, thanks to the experience of working in this project. I’d like to thank the Indian Army for supporting us in this journey of making the film.”

In his speech, director Vakkantham Vamsi couldn’t stop gushing about the experience of working with Arjun. He said that the actor fulfilled his three and a half year directorial dream. “I travelled with Arjun for 130 days on this project. I’ve been a writer all my life and never shot anything even on a mobile phone. Arjun liked the story and believed that there was a director in me. I don’t think any debutant director would be as lucky as me to have worked with him. I can say confidently that his character Surya from the film will be remembered by audiences for at least the next ten years.” Also starring Anu Emmanuel, Arjun Sarja, Sarath Kumar and Thakur Anup Singh, the character essayed by Arjun in the film required him to shed weight and he worked with a US-based trainer for close to a month to achieve the desired look. The film has music by Bollywood composer duo Vishal-Shekhar.