The original Pushpa: The Rise just dropped like a bombshell in 2021, catapulting Allu Arjun from being a household name in Telugu cinema to a household name across the country. With its stunning portrayal of a red sandalwood smuggler grinding his way up the Chittoor district from the very bottom - or should I say, from the seedy side of town, the film mixed raw gritty realism, those infectious foot-tapping folk beats and unapologetic machismo to create a recipe of - or let's say a mix of - masala that made over ₹350 crore worldwide. It wasn't exactly subtle - Pushpa's typical swagger and that now legendary "Jhukega nahi" dialogue in a matter of time became like secret codes that people would understand as how you'd defy the odds.
Three years later, Pushpa 2: The Rule just rolled onto the big screens weighed down with all those expectations, directed once more by Sukumar, who tried to spin this one as looking at the bigger picture & escalating the stakes - no longer just a matter of surviving but reaching the top to win the game. Released on the 5th of December, 2024, in a number of IMAX and 4DX formats all at the same time, this 200 minute beast delivers when it comes to the grand spectacle but just can't cope with all the excess that comes with it, turning what could've been a great epic into a endurance test that just wears you out.
Picking up where the first film left off, Pushpa 2 suddenly catapults Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) into the stratosphere of international flavours. He's no longer happy with running small time rackets; now he's got his sights set on entire international syndicates, and so is busy wooing a wealthy client (Saurabh Sachdeva) in Dubai - some big shot who's got a lot of money to burn on smuggled timber worth big crores. But as with all great power, it soon gets corrupted, and Pushpa's rapid rise to the top has Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat (Fahadh Faasil) - that IPS officer who was so thoroughly humiliated in the first one, he's still seething with resentment - now on a one-man mission to take down Pushpa.
A 'one-man crusade' against the so-called "flower mafia", he infiltrates Pushpa's world with a wicked glee & starts a real game of cat & mouse, with pushpa & his people caught in a web of betrayals, ambushes and egos clashing. Supporting the sidelines are Pushpa's loyal sidekick Keshav (Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari), his fiery-tempered wife Srivalli (Rashmika Mandanna) and a never-ending procession of politicians & henchmen who get crushed in the crossfire and become cannon fodder for the main event - the showdown between Pushpa & Shekhawat. Sukumar's script takes a closer look into Pushpa's psyche - his mommy issues and his desperation for legitimacy - but in a way that's filtered through a pretty over-the-top macho bravado, where every little slight demands an epic slow-motion fight scene.
Allu Arjun is the heart of the film, and he brings the charm that makes Pushpa 2 from just another sequel to a must watch. His Pushpa is not just a smuggler, he is an unstoppable force, gliding through the woods with ease or bursting onto the screen in the jatara segment - an extraordinary festival of light, rhythm and danger that feels both spiritual and dreamy. Arjun’s physicality is captivating - the intentional movements, the way he menacingly strokes his beard and how he lights a cigarette like a boss. This performance owns the screen, even more than the dance scenes in the original. Fahadh Faasil plays Shekhawat and he is delightful as an unhinged character whose Rajasthani accent is dripping with malice.
He makes the interrogation scenes feel like a bizarre theatrical performance. Their scenes together are electric, especially in a confrontation where the insults fly like projectiles and it feels like a buddy cop movie hidden beneath the chaos. Rashmika Mandanna plays Srivalli and moves away from the damsel in distress image of the first film and gets a more refined and assertive character, but her character arc feels forced and added to provide emotional moments amidst the violence.
Sukumar really knows how to put his finger on a problem and then cleverly lead himself in circles with it - the resulting movie is nothing if not a riot of energy. That frenetic pace, courtesy of a kinetic sequence of events by Peter Hein, defies the laws of physics - Pushpa takes flight, leaving a trail of bad guys in her wake like a human boomerang and flashing that triumphant grin on her face. And capturing all that chaos and rural turmoil, cinematographer Miroslaw Kuba Brozek brings the lush green of Andhra to life - though somehow also manages to shoehorn in some pretty incongruous Dubai glitz amidst all the mayhem.
The film gets off to a flying start, hurtling us into a surreal opening scene set in Japan and a smuggling operation that's all edge-of-the-seat suspense. But - as with any wild ride - you can tell when the brakes are getting applied: by the three hour mark the movie has started to feel decidedly same-old-same-old, with betrayal plot twists coming thick and fast: slow-motion walks, another puzzled citizen stumbling into the lead characters' path etc. - and for all that, it really starts to drag. And then there's the script: it's full of neat twists and turns but ultimately, it relies on a bunch of convenient plot devices - bad guys explaining their master plans in tedious detail, the good guys stumbling out of one absurd scrape after another. And don't even get me started on the music - since Devi Sri Prasad handed over to Sam C S - the songs, though still energetic and catchy, don't have the same magical blend of traditional sounds as the first movie, leaving the film's wilder moments feeling just a bit flat.
At the end of the day Pushpa 2: The Rule is a sequel problem – increase everything but the chances are it may dilute the original magic. It celebrates the struggle of those who toil in a unfair system where the less fortunate work extra hard to survive, but Sukumar’s over the top approach makes it seem like an exaggeration. The political themes – smugglers as heroes, police as outdated – hit home with a heavy hand but connect in an India where the harsh realities of inequality are staring us in the face. Despite the flaws this is an energetic film – loud, bold and hard to ignore. If The Rise was the spark, The Rule is the explosion – chaotic, intense and needs editing. Fans will love it; haters will leave before the second half starts. Whatever, Allu Arjun is the showstopper and proves again that in Sukumar’s world the most beautiful flower blooms in the wildest way.
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