Allu Arjun recalls making 6-pack abs because an actress told him ‘don't think south actors can do it’

At WAVES 2025, Allu Arjun revealed why he was one of the first south Indian stars to sport a six-pack and said that it was for more than just cosmetic reasons.

Actor Allu Arjun attended the first World Audio Visual Entertainment Summit (WAVES) in Mumbai on Thursday. During a session, he spoke about his career, becoming the first Telugu actor to win a National Award, and the story behind why he was one of the first south Indian actors to sport a six-pack on-screen. (Also Read: Allu Arjun reveals the struggle behind the pallu shot of Pushpa 2. Here’s what he said)

Allu Arjun was one of the first south Indian stars to show off his six-pack on-screen and there's a story behind it.

Allu Arjun took ‘challenged’ from female co-star

Arjun was asked at the summit what kind of hard work goes into staying fit constantly as an actor, given that he was one of the first from south India to show off fit abs on-screen. He said, “Honestly, it’s about just the mindset. You know, twenty years back, to do something that was never done before by any other south actor…culturally it was not accepted, there were many taboos around that. I knew that it was a great sign, that if you just do it once, it takes one person to break that jinx.”

He then revealed that there was more than one reason to do it, and that it was also because he felt ‘challenged’ when a female co-star questioned if south Indian actors could do it. Arjun said, “Someone motivated me to do that by saying, I don’t think any south actors can come up with six packs. One of the actresses whom I worked with said that. And I took that up as a challenge. Then, I just did it for my people.”

For the uninitiated, Arjun sported only boy-next-door looks in his initial films Gangotri (2003), Arya (2004), Bunny (2005), and Happy (2006). But it was in his next films, like Desamuduru (2007) and later Varudu (2010), that he pushed the bar by getting buff for his roles and going shirtless on-screen.

Upcoming work

After the success of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020), Arjun dedicated five years of his life to the Pushpa films – Pushpa: The Rise (2021) and Pushpa 2: The Rule (2025). The films were a massive success, earning him a National Award for his performance as the smuggler, Pushpa Raj. Now, Arjun has said yes to a sci-fi film directed by Atlee that is currently in pre-production. He previously also said yes to Trivikram Srinivas, and it remains to be seen when that film will be shot.