'Mine is an arranged marriage' says Bunny:DC

The unforeseen strike in Tollywood has given some much needed time to stars to catch up with their family and friends and go through some scripts. However, Allu Arjun seems to be preoccupied with something different; his marriage.

“My parents are taking care of all the arrangements,” says the actor who is on a shopping spree for the D-day. “I may pick up a couple of suits from abroad. Other than that, we’ll procure most of the traditional stuff in Hyderabad. My special wedding attire will be done by a designer from Delhi. The date has been fixed for March 6,” he adds. He also clears the air about rumours that he had been courting Sneha Reddy for long before getting the blessings from their parents. “It’s just media speculation. Mine is an arranged marriage, no two ways about it. We happened to meet through common friends and later interacted at private parties hosted by our pals. Soon, we began to share a few thoughts,” he says.

So the onscreen lover boy was floored by the soft-spoken Sneha Reddy in just three months flat? “That’s right,” he chuckles. Has he chosen a honeymoon spot yet? “Nothing yet since I have to join the shooting of Badrinath post-marriage. But since these are special moments of our lives, I’ll definitely spare a week for it,” he adds.

On the professional front, he is graduating from “lover boy” roles to a “larger-than-life” role with Badrinath. “It is time I explored strong roles,” he says. To play the role of a warrior, he has grown his hair long and has also toned up his physique. “I can’t divulge more, except that I’ll be seen in a new avatar,” he says.

Apparently, with this big budget extravaganza, he is joining the Rs 30-crore star club that includes Mahesh, Pawan and Ram Charan. “The subject should justify the budget and not the other way round,” he says.

But hasn’t T-town suffered due to lavish productions bombing at the box office this year? “More than the content, the films were considered flops because they couldn’t recover their huge investments,” he reasons. Though he feels that the production cost should be reined in, he doesn’t blame it on huge remunerations of superstars. “Stars’ pay packets are fixed, though schedules get extended. The problem lies in the day-to-day production costs and bad planning could cost a producer more than the day’s allotment,” reasons he.

With K-town stars like Rajinikanth, Vikram and Surya swaying the Telugu audience, our reigning Telugu star is set to return the favour with Badrinath. “I’d like to attract a Tamil audience and gradually expand our base to create a dual market for Telugu stars. Earlier, Nagarjuna had big hits in Tamil like Shiva and Gitanjali but he didn’t really push it hard,” he says.

But he has proved that Telugu actors can take on the likes of Mohan Lal and Mamootty, with the success of Arya 2 in Mollywood. “I met some Malayalam actors and filmmakers and they insisted that I do a Malayalam film,” he points out.

On being selective about brand endorsements, he says “I’d like to endorse products that I use regularly and also prefer brands that suit my personality,” he informs. Isn’t he wary about losing his female fan following with his marriage? “Fans relate only to my onscreen image, so no big worries and haven’t hunks got married world over?” he laughs.