Sukumar’s sequel to ‘Pushpa: The Rise’ also stars Rashmika Mandanna and Fahadh Faasil.
The sequel to the 2021 blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise sees the red sandalwood smuggler Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) waging wars on multiple fronts. Old rival Srinu (Sunil) and his ill-tempered wife Daksha (Anasuya Bharadwaj) want to regain control of the smuggling syndicate that Pushpa now controls. Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat (Fahadh Faasil), the police officer whom Pushpa roundly humiliated in the previous film’s climax, is itching for revenge.
The matter of Pushpa’s reconciliation with his half-brother Mohan (Ajay), who refuses to accept him, lingers. A new enemy is a politician with a nasty brother.
Pushpa even single-handedly takes on the Japanese yakuza, but we never learn the outcome of this encounter. Writer-director Sukumar has a lot of ground to cover, and isn’t going to allow such a basic plotting pothole to interrupt his wild ride.
For all its threats of extending Pushpa’s story arc, Pushpa – The Rule wallows in the zone of fan service. Over 200 minutes, Sukumar rolls out echoes, repetitions and throwbacks to the first movie. Pushpa’s earthy swagger, the raised shoulder that is the result of childhood trauma, the aphoristic speech – these discoveries from the first film are repackaged and dialled up many notches for a follow-up that is overtly self-conscious of its legacy.
