HL: Allu Arjun only shines in this lengthy second part
Film: Pushpa 2: The Rule
Actors: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil, Rao Ramesh, Jagapathi Babu, Anasuya, Sunil, Jagadeesh Pratap, Brahmaji, Sreeleela, Pavani Karanam and others
Cinematography: Miroslaw Kuba Brozek
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
Producers: Naveen Yerneni, Yelamanchili Ravi Shankar
Story, Screenplay, director: Sukumar
Release date: December 5, 2024
Rating: 2.5/5
Suresh Kavirayani
Allu Arjun and director Sukumar combination ‘Pushpa: The Rise’ created a sensation after it was released three years back. Now, the sequel for this film ‘Pushpa2: The Rule’ is released this Thursday. Allu Arjun gets a National Award for his performance in the first part and there is a lot of curiosity for this second one. More than that Allu Arjun extensively promoted the film in many parts of the city like Patna. There are huge expectations on this film and this is the only one to hit the screens without any competition. Trade analysts are also predicting huge box-office collections of this film and will it live up to expectations. Here is the story.
Story:
Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) is enjoying his married life and ready to meet the Chief Minister. Before that, his wife Srivalli asked him to get a photo with the Chief Minister which she wanted to see. But the Chief Minister takes funds from Pushpa, but he doesn’t want to give a photo for him, because he is a smuggler. With that, Pusha was hurt and he came out and announced that he will make his friend Siddhappa (Rao Ramesh) as chief minister. For that, he has to arrange Rs 500 crores with smuggling rend sanders. Police officer Shekhawat (Fahadh Faasil), who faced humiliation from Pushpa, is looking for revenge and wants to stop the smuggling. On the other side, Pushpa is also facing some kind of family crisis which he wants to deal with. How pushpa smuggled these red sanders? How did he save his family when they were in trouble? What happened in the end is the crux of the story.
Analysis:
The second part starts where the first part ends. But Sukumar started the second part with a big action episode in Japan, but once the film is over, one feels the action episode is unnecessary and forcefully inserted. Then the focus shifted to Pushpa and his wife Srivalli and their marriage life. The Chief Minister refused to take photograph with Pusha and he decided to make his friend as Chief Minister.
In this second part, Sukumar blends the story with Pushpa as a ruthless smuggler and also as a emotional family man where he binds for his family. Once he decided to make his friend as CM, he started to smuggle as many tonnes of rend sanders. Shekhawant wanted to stop it, as the first half goes between two of these like cat and mouse. Though Sukumar made these scenes interestingly, those are more cinematic and also used graphics.
The first half of the film can be chopped for a few minutes as the director dragged the scenes many times. The lorry episode where Pushpa smuggled the red sanders and Shekhawat trying to stop is a lengthy dragging episode. There are a few elevation scenes like where Pushpa tells ‘sorry’ to Shekhawat and before that the Chief Minister’s episode.
Sukumar concentrates more on the family affairs in the second half where his cousin’s brother’s daughter is involved. The gangamma jatha episode is definitely one of the highlights of the film and Sukumar can only craft those kind of episodes. It lasts nearly half an hour and it is definitely Sukumar’s best work.
Another big drawback of the film is that it forcefully extended the story. The kidnap drama and the later action episode are a bit lag and unnecessary. Pushpa wanted to make his friend as CM and he did and after that Sukumar left that story and focused more on his family. Pushpa’s friend Siddhappa met the Central Minister in Delhi for the Chief Minister post, but the director didn’t show any continuation for it. The continuation scene comes only in the second half where the director shows Pushpa’s friend becoming CM. There are more cinematic scenes in this second part of the film. But when you look at it all, except a few scenes from the first half and the Jathara episode in the second half, most of the scenes dragged and definitely can reduce the film’s length.
When it comes to the performance, Allu Arjun carried his performance from part one to this second part. He is excellent especially in the jathara episode where his dance, emotion are exceptionally well. Allu Arjun gave a stunning performance throughout the film and definitely this Pushpa role is a memorable one for him. The CM episode, the sorry scene, the Jathara episode stand out for him. Rashmika Mandanna too performed well and she is really good at two particular scenes. One is after the Jathara episode where she is confronted with Ajay and the other one is at a scene in her house. She is also glamorous in a song. Fahadh Faasil is a proven actor and no need to talk about him. He once again shows his talent in this second part and he is one of the pillars for this one. Rao Ramesh is one such talented actor in Telugu Cinema and once again he is very impressive in his role as Siddhappa. Brahmaji appears almost throughout the film and he is at his best. Jagapathi Babu, Anasuya, Sunil appear as normal as in the first half. Ajay is also there, he gets an important scene only in the climax. Pavani Karanam played Allu Arjun’s niece. Jagadeesh Prathap played Arjun’s friend Keshava and he carried the same from part one. Many other actors were supported in their roles. Sreeleela appears in a special song.
Miroslaw Kuba Brozek cinematography is excellent and the visuals are beautiful, especially his work highlights with the Jathara episode. Music by Devi Sri Prasad is good, but when compared to the first part, this one is not up to the mark. The background score is good. The special song is not accelerated like in the first part. The dialogues are impressive and every character speaks the Chittoor accent. The producers put a lot of money on this film as you can see the richness of every scene. Some of Allu Arjun’s dialogues are not clear as there may be some dubbing technical problems.
Finally, ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ definitely banks on Allu Arjun’s stunning performance especially the scenes that come in the second half. But at the same time, the film is forced with dragged scenes in the first half and as well as in the second half. The climax action scene is too graphic as it is choreographed without any logic. The film’s fate depends on how the audience takes this three hour 20 minutes lengthy film.
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