Alluri Gets Dramatic with ‘Chastavu’ and ‘Andar Ka Janwar’ Videos

Hyderabad rock artist Alluri agrees that between his 2019 album O Katha and his recent single “Chastavu,” it’s safe to say that a lot has changed about the world’s understanding of Telugu music.

Alluri, who also recently put out a Hindi song called “Andar Ka Janwar,” tells Rolling Stone India, “Well, thanks to [Telugu movie] RRR winning the Oscar for best song [“Naatu Naatu”], more people know about South Indian Cinema and Telugu cinema in particular.” But Alluri’s very much an independent artist, so he acknowledges the challenge is still present for Telugu indie artists to be given attention.

With “Chastavu” – which released in October – there’s yet another leap towards the global stage by sticking to storytelling in Telugu about vices and how they are playfully perceived and twisted by society. In the music video, Alluri plays three different generation of men who become addicted to alcohol, drugs and gluttony, enabled by the women of the family. He says of the video, “‘Chastavu’ was challenging in its own way for what I had to put myself through. But the ideas were so brilliant and sensational that I wanted to do justice to them and happily got my face, hands and clothes dirty in the process.”

For the wavy Hindi rock song “Andar Ka Janwar,” the video starring Chrisann Pereira and Rijul Ray sees Alluri don the role of a helpless sap as well as a remorseless, unfiltered hero. “We started discussing what the music videos could be, the project slowly took shape and once the screenplay was locked, we went into production. It was four days of production which was very gruelling although I enjoyed every second of it. I ended up injuring my knee for the ‘Andar Ka Janwar’ music video, for whatever little action was in the video,” he adds. The song is produced by U.K. act Razorlight’s Andy Burrows.

Both songs have been packaged into an EP called Andar Ka Janwar, a four-track record which also includes a demo version of “Chastavu” and a song called “Mr Munchedo.” Alluri has also presented these videos as part of his upcoming album The Beautiful Indian Rock & Roll Explosion.

In the past, Alluri has enlisted the likes of producer Tommaso Colliva on 2016 single “Evari Kosam” and collaborated with the Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock on “Don’t Lose Touch” in 2018, which was co-produced by Colliva. Alluri’s song “Endukala” from O Katha was also used to promote filmmaker Tharun Bhascker’s 2023 Telugu film Keedaa Cola.

Watch the video for “Andar Ka Janwar” below