Pushpa: The Rise

Pushpa: The Rise (Telugu pronunciation: [puʂpa]) is a 2021 Indian Telugu-language action drama film directed by Sukumar and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, together with Muttamsetty Media. The first installment in the Pushpa film series, it stars Allu Arjun in the titular role, alongside an ensemble cast of Shatru, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil (in his Telugu debut), Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari, Dhananjaya, Sunil, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Rao Ramesh, Ajay and Ajay Ghosh. The film follows Pushpa, a daily wage labourer who rises through the ranks of a syndicate involved in smuggling red sandalwood, a rare wood found only in the Seshachalam Hills of Andhra Pradesh.

The film began production in December 2019 but was halted in March 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming resumed in November 2020 and ended in November 2021, primarily taking place at Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad and the Maredumilli forest in Andhra Pradesh. The music was composed by Devi Sri Prasad, with cinematography by Miroslaw Kuba Brozek.

Pushpa: The Rise was released worldwide on 17 December 2021 in theatres to mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances, action choreography, cinematography, direction, dialogues, and soundtrack but criticised the runtime, screenplay, plot, editing and its similarities with the KGF franchise. The film was commercially successful, grossing over ₹350–360 crore at the worldwide box office. It became the highest-grossing Indian film of 2021 and ranks among the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time.

It was dubbed in Hindi with Shreyas Talpade, Rajesh Khattar and Sahil Vaid dubbing for Allu Arjun, Fahad Faasil and Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari respectively.

At the 69th National Film Awards, Pushpa: The Rise won two awards – Best Actor (Arjun) and Best Music Direction (Prasad). At the 67th Filmfare Awards South, it won seven awards meant for Telugu films, including Best Film, Best Director (Sukumar) and Best Actor (Arjun). The 74th Berlinale retrospectively featured it in 2024. A sequel titled Pushpa 2: The Rule was released on 5 December 2024.

Plot

In the late 1990s, Pushpa Raj, a self-esteemed porter, and his friend Kesava resort to logging red sandalwood for notorious smuggler Konda Reddy. Pushpa quickly rises through ranks by saving the stock from being seized by DSP Govindappa and suggesting novel ideas to smuggle the logs bypassing checkpoints. Mangalam Srinu, Konda Reddy's ruthless boss, entrusts him with his consignment and in turn, Konda Reddy tasks Pushpa with safeguarding the consignment from the police and shipping it. Nevertheless, Konda Reddy's lecherous youngest brother Jaali Reddy loathes Pushpa's increasing fame and intentionally sabotages the dispatching of consignment to let the police arrest him but Pushpa manages to save the stock once again. At a party hosted by Srinu, Pushpa discovers that the latter has been double-crossing the syndicate by embezzling the profits obtained through smuggling. He promptly informs Konda Reddy, who refuses to confront Srinu and Pushpa too agrees with him.

Meanwhile, Pushpa develops feelings for Srivalli, a milk vendor and daughter of one of Konda Reddy's henchmen. Their engagement is interrupted by Mohan, Pushpa's eldest half-brother, who refuses to acknowledge Pushpa as his father's son and reveals that he is illegitimate. Pushpa's mother Parvatamma is injured in the ensuing scuffle and her agony moves Pushpa, who decides to earn a name for himself. He withdraws from working for Srinu and strikes a deal with Chennai-based smuggler Murugan, splitting profits with Konda Reddy. Elsewhere, Jaali Reddy captures Srivalli's father upon discovering that he has been working as a mole for Govindappa and threatens her to sleep with him in exchange for sparing his life. She confides in Pushpa and confesses her feelings for him; he promptly retaliates by thrashing Jaali, who gets temporarily paralyzed. He refuses to tell his brothers about Pushpa and vows to seek vengeance himself after recuperating. However, Konda Reddy eavesdrops on a conversation between Pushpa and Kesava and discovers that the former beat Jaali. He takes Pushpa to a secluded location to kill him but they face an ambush by Srinu's brother-in-law Mogileesu and his henchmen; Pushpa subdues them and kills Mogileesu while rescuing Konda Reddy's younger brother Jakka Reddy, reigniting their friendship. However, Konda Reddy dies in the attack. At his funeral, MP Siddhappa Naidu tries to make peace between Pushpa and Srinu but ends up appointing the former to run the syndicate in Srinu's stead, upon being apprised of his fraud.

Days pass by and Pushpa establishes himself as a formidable personality. Srinu's wife Dakshayani swears vengeance against Pushpa for Mogileesu's death. Meanwhile, Bhanwar Singh Shekawat, a callous cop, replaces Govindappa and is approached by Pushpa days before the latter's marriage with Srivalli. He offers Bhanwar monthly bribes and haughtily asks him to cooperate. Bhanwar arrogantly responds by humiliating Pushpa's birth and instructs him to be meek and submissive. An enraged Pushpa subsides for beat the time being but on his wedding day, while partying with him, he abruptly confesses to being hurt by Shekawat's words and forces him to strip down to his underwear. He does the same and declares that he derives his prestige from himself while Shekawat is nothing without his uniform and that even his dog wouldn't identify him without it. He then departs to marry Srivalli while Shekawat walks home semi-clothed and shoots his dog when it barks, having failed to recognize him just as Pushpa anticipated. He angrily incinerates the money sent by Pushpa and vows vengeance. Elsewhere, Srivalli asks Pushpa if his conflict is solved but he declares that it has just begun.

Cast

Production

Development

Post the success of Rangasthalam (2018), Sukumar narrated a script to Mahesh Babu, with whom he previously worked in 1: Nenokkadine (2014). Babu, who liked the story, gave a nod to the project and was reported to start the shoot after completing Vamshi Paidipally's project Maharshi (2019). In mid-April 2018, Mythri Movie Makers, which collaborated with Sukumar in their previous film Rangasthalam, officially announced the project which was tentatively titled as #SSMB26, thus marking their second collaboration with Babu and Sukumar. The film was expected to begin in January 2019, but, in that March, Babu walked out of Sukumar's project, citing creative differences, and he confirmed this through Twitter. The actor instead signed his next project with Anil Ravipudi titled Sarileru Neekevvaru, Whereas Sukumar approached Allu Arjun for his next film, marking his reunion with the director after a decade since Arya 2 (2009); Mythri Movie Makers, which earlier associated with Babu and Sukumar's project, also agreed to produce the venture.

In an interview with Press Trust of India, Sukumar stated, "I couldn't make Mahesh Babu cool. He is very fair. So, the backdrop was the same but the story is different."

Pre-production

Sukumar described the storyline as follows: "The red sanders heist in the hills of Andhra is a convoluted nexus that unfurls in the course of the narrative through a coolie-turned-smuggler." Sukumar explored the subject of red sandalwood smuggling when he read about such incidents in Andhra Pradesh years ago. Sukumar did his research and thought of developing the project as a web series. However, he later decided to turn the project into a feature film. He personally went for location scouting across Nallamala Hills, as the film is set in Rayalaseema and Nellore, and the plot revolves around red sanders smuggling. Since most of the film takes place in a rural backdrop, Allu Arjun was reported to have learned the Chittoor accent for the film, and the makers hired a team from Bollywood to work on his look. Seshachalam forest, located in the hilly region of Tirumala, serves as the backdrop for the story. Polish cinematographer Miroslaw Kuba Brozek, who worked for Nani's Gangleader (2019) was signed for the film. Karthika Srinivas performed the film's editing, whereas Mounika and Ramakrishna, the art directors of Sukumar's previous film Rangasthalam (2018) were chosen for production design. Resul Pookutty signed for the film's sound design, along with Vijay Kumar. The film's title Pushpa was officially announced on 8 April 2020, on the occasion of Allu Arjun's birthday, and a poster was also released.