Allu Arjun vs 'Mega' family shadow war hots up
Allu Arjun did not campaign for his uncle Pawan Kalyan in the LS polls but went to Nandyal to attend a meeting for a YSRCP candidate. This sparked anger and bitterness among fans and family members
The Lok Sabha elections were not the only issue that took centre stage in Andhra Pradesh. Telugu actor Allu Arjun's taking on the powerful ‘Mega’ Allu-Konidela family in the Telugu film industry also created ripples in the state.
Though Allu Arjun is part of this prominent family too, as he is related to mega star Chiranjeevi, and his brothers – actor-politician brother Pawan Kalyan and producer-politician Nagababu, tensions have surfaced in the backdrop of the Lok Sabha elections in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Also, for long, there have been reports of how the iconic star Allu Arjun, whose 'Pushpa' was a runaway hit catapulting him onto the national scene, has been trying to come out of the shadow of the ‘Mega’ film family. Now, it seems, he has used the LS election to do it.
The simmering tensions between the two have led to a war of words on social media between the fans of Allu Arjun and the ‘Mega’ family on the other side.
Nagababu sets the ball rolling
Nagababu, an actor-producer who is also the general secretary of his brother Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena party, was the first to set the cat among the pigeons and bring this festering issue to the fore. He posted a cryptic tweet on his Twitter handle, ostensibly taking a potshot at Allu Arjun. However, he faced such a severe backlash that he had to deactivate his Twitter account, which set tongues wagging.
In his tweet, Nagababu wrote, “A person who stays with us but helps our opponent is not our man, and a person who stands for us is ours even if he is an outsider.” His tweet hinted at the rift within the family, emphasising the importance of the family standing together at difficult times. Although this tweet did not explicitly mention Allu Arjun, it sparked controversy and intensified the existing tensions.
Allu Arjun's fans attacked Nagababu on the social media platform, saying that Nagababu’s tweet referred to the actor. The fans of the ‘Mega’ family also hit out harshly at Allu Arjun. As the controversy started to heat up, Nagababu deactivated his Twitter account.
The ‘Mega’ family also blamed Nagababu for tweeting against Allu Arjun, and Pawan Kalyan also reprimanded Nagababu in this matter, which led him to deactivate his account, said some insiders. But, others said that Nagababu took the decision to ward off further controversy.
What sparked this fight within the family?
The fight between Allu Arjun and Pawan Kalyan fans started in July 2017. At the success meet of the movie 'Sarainodu' that year, as PK fans kept chanting 'Powerstar' urging everyone to do the same and disrupting the function, Allu Arjun took the bull by its horns and told them, ‘I will not say, brother.’
From then on, Pawan’s fans have been furious with Allu Arjun and were waiting for a chance to hit back. When the teaser for Allu Arjun's movie 'DJ' was released they took revenge. The teaser remains at the top of the list of most disliked teaser videos in India.
After this, Allu Arjun tried to calm the situation by explaining why he said what he did. "Other heroes get hurt because fans keep shouting Pawan Kalyan’s name even at events unrelated to the Mega family. Let's put an end to it, I said on that day, 'I will not say brother'. We'll be fine. But the fans are the ones who get beaten and embarrassed. Don't lower your level and lower our level," he said. But, his pleas fell on deaf ears and nothing changed on the ground.
Matters take a turn for the worse
The situation took a turn for the worse when Pawan Kalyan contested from Andhra Pradesh’s Pithapuram constituency in the 2024 elections. Soon, it became a million-dollar question whether Allu Arjun would campaign in the constituency. In the end, Allu Arjun failed to turn up to the campaign and only tweeted that he would always support Pawan.
PK fans speculated that he was busy with a film shoot. But within a few days, when Allu Arjun met Shilpa Ravichandra Reddy, who is contesting the elections on behalf of the YSR Congress party in Nandyal, the fans went berserk. Fans tweeted on social media asking All Arjun if he would join hands with his enemy at the cost of his uncle.
The dispute took centrestage in Pithapuram.
Allu Arjun clarifies
On the day of the polling (May 13) Allu Arjun once again explained his actions saying that he is not connected to any political party and that Shilpa Ravi is his ‘close friend” and that is why he went to meet her. The fans, however, continue to lash out at him. At the same time, Nagababu's tweet seems to have added fuel to the fire. As the controversy continues to rage, it remains to be seen how the 'Mega' family will handle it.
And the question is whether the big boss, the megastar Chiranjeevi himself, will enter the ring to put an end to this fight within the Telugu film industry's most famous family.
(This article was originally published in The Federal Telangana.)