Pushpa is a Telugu language mass action movie, written and directed by Sukumar, that was released theatrically in December and is now streaming on amazon prime.
It was the highest-grossing film last year but at that time was honestly thinking about skipping the movie altogether and it’s also a three-hour commitment but I watched it.
and I’m super happy that I did because I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed this.
Pushpa- The Rise is such a mass entertainer with a great Allu Arjun in the lead, so much style and energy and song and dance sequences that each time put a huge smile on my face I have my issues with the film as well but overall this was so much fun.
The story is quite simple or simplistic it’s about the titular character Pushpa who at the beginning of the movie is a so-called coolie a low wages labourer and he working for a syndicate that is in the business of smuggling red sandalwood.
How it shipped out of India is visualised in opening animated sequence which is kind of nice but honestly also doesn’t look that good I loved the idea of showing everything in reverse but it also has a rather cheap look to it and it would have been awesome to see everything happening in reverse with real actors.
After that animated sequence, it’s time to introduce the hero and because this is a big mass movie we get a fair amount of awesome fight scenes right from the very first moment he appeared on the screen. He can still be overwhelmed but even then he can take whatever punishment the police or other gangsters unleash in him. Allu Arjun’s Pushpa is just super cool and the movie is basically a three-hour-long celebration of coolness and honestly, I was all there for it.
It definitely not the most suspenseful or exciting story and my biggest gripe with the movie is the lack of a better more stringent build-up, I mean the direction is pretty clear its always going up but there are really no big stakes until maybe later on when the love interest is involved maybe its also a problem that the motivation is pretty shallow.
I specially happy to see Sunil who we were introduced to a long time ago through S S Rajamouli, Maryada Ramanna or the character of his wife Dekshayani played by Anasuya Bhardwaj, she such a brutal woman and I loved how she behaved at their gangster meetings and Kesava who is also the narrator of this movie was also a nice addition again, the character is really thinly written but Jagdish Pratap Bhandari plays him nicely and there are some wonderfully lighthearted comedic moments with the two of them especially when it comes to the romance side plot which is like familiar tropes and Srivalli played by Rashmika Mandanna definitely could have been more in the movie but I rather enjoyed how cute and also silly their encounter was shown.
The movie’s biggest asset is style the cinematography by Miroslaw Brozek, the whole production design and the great locations and just the film’s attitude and panache it has that great mass feeling.
The Devi Sri Prasad who has composed the music and it’s just incredible, entertaining and wonderfully choreographed and it has a nice little cameo by Samantha Ruth Prabhu. The dancing in those sequences, the colours, the sets I just loved it.
But the overall narrative is really not that strong, I think the movie isn’t fully able to justify its very long runtime of three hours and unfortunately and I also think it doesn’t really justify having two parts, I had lots of fun watching it but it also feels as if this is just a going on and on and also not the most exciting story and without spoiling it but the last transformation of Pushpa into boss feel kind of underwritten as well and everything with Fahad Fasil’s character feels tacked on.
So from my side, Pushpa’s got three out of five stars, do comment what you think, like my review and follow me without missing, catch you soon.