After playing as a child artist in Vijetha and as a dancer in
Daddy, Allu made his adult debut in Gangotri. Allu then appeared
in Sukumar's Arya. His role in Arya was his breakthrough,
earning a first Filmfare Best Telugu Actor Award nomination and
he won a Special Jury award at the Nandi Awards ceremony, two
CineMAA Awards for Best Actor and Best Actor Jury and the film
was a critical and commercial success. He next starred in V. V.
Vinayak's Bunny playing Bunny, a college student. Critics
praised his efforts, mannerisms and dancing. His next film was
A. Karunakaran's musical love story Happy. He then starred in
Puri Jagannadh's action film Desamuduru in which he played the
role of Bala Govindam, a fearless journalist who falls with a
woman with a darker past.
His next film was Bhaskar's Parugu, where he played the role of
Krishna, a happy-go-lucky man from Hyderabad who helps his
friend to elope with his love, only to experience the wrath of
the woman's father and the emotional struggle he felt.
idlebrain.com wrote: "Allu Arjun is pretty excellent in the
first half as the characterization in the first half is vibrant
and needs loads of energy. He carried the entire first half on
his shoulders. He excelled in the emotional scenes in the second
half. After playing in a guest role in Shankar Dada Zindabad, he
starred in Sukumar's psychological action drama Arya 2. He
played the role of Arya, an orphan who is behaviourally sick in
that he is consumed with possessiveness for his friend Ajay, who
never accepts him. Sify wrote: "Allu Arjun is full of energy as
the guy caught in the powerful current of love. Though he plays
the part with negative shades, his characterization could evoke
a lot of sympathy from the audiences. His dances are
mind-blowing and he excels in emotional scenes." idlebrain.com
wrote: "Allu Arjun is perfect as Arya. His character in the
movie has the qualities of a psychotic and he portrayed the
character flawlessly. He shined in emotional scenes in the
second half of the movie. Allu Arjun is probably the best dancer
of current era in Tollywood. That is the reason why he made
hugely difficult dances appear fluid and effortless in the first
four songs of the movie. Allu starred in two experimental films
in 2010. The first was Gunasekhar's Varudu. Rediff wrote: "Allu
Arjun has put in a competent performance, subdued when necessary
and volatile when needed." While Rediff stated: "He's a good
dancer and does justice to his role. His next film was Krish's
Vedam. His next release was V. V. Vinayak's action film
Badrinath. He played the role of Badri, a warrior who is
assigned to protect the shrine of Badrinath by his Guru, to whom
he is very loyal. The movie completed a 50-day run in 187
centers. After Badrinath, Allu appeared in the film Julayi, an
action comedy released in 2012. Allu played the role of Ravindra
Narayan, a street-smart yet spoilt brat whose life takes a
drastic turn after he becomes the witness of a huge bank
robbery. The Times of India wrote: "Allu Arjun puts in a
confident performance as the loveable rogue. It's a role that is
right up his alley and he carries it off with a characteristic
panache. He lights up the screen with his dancing in particular,
pulling off some pretty challenging dance moves." He was
nominated for the SIIMA Award for Best Actor.[citation needed]
He later starred in Puri Jagannadh's action thriller
Iddarammayilatho, playing Sanju Reddy, a guitarist with a dark
past. The Times of India wrote: "True to his tag of "stylish
star", Allu Arjun looks trendier than ever before. His character
of a guitarist, who is a street performer in Barcelona, was at
its best sketchy, and looks completely different from his
previous films. He once again proves that he is a good actor and
probably because of the action director's meticulous planning,
he makes perfect expressions in all the fight scenes.