Pushpa: The rise (पुष्पा: द राईज)

"Pushpa: The rise (पुष्पा: द राईज)"

Watched Hindi version of movie "Pushpa: The rise (पुष्पा: द राईज)". 

This film is directed by Sukumar. Written by Sukumar. Produced by Naveen Yerneni, Y. Ravi Shankar. Music by Devi Sri Prasad. Cinematography Mirosław Kuba Brożek. The film stars Allu Arjun, Fahadh Faasil, Rashmika Mandanna, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Sunil, Dhananjaya, Jagdeesh Bhandari. The film runs for about 3 hours and was released on 17 Dec 2021. I watched it on Amazon Prime on 26th Jan 2021.

Pushpa, basrard son of local zamindar, starts as a labourer cutting red sandal trees for smugglers and rises in the tank through his intelligence, courage and determination. His bleeding wound? Not having a surname and family to prove his legitimacy. 

How hard will his journey be? Is he a broken man? Will, the girl he loves, reciprocate? Is the illegal trade of red Sandal so lucrative?

Allu Arjun plays Pushpa. His portrayal of thre protagonist is counterintuitive. He has messy hair, wild beard, his one shoulder is higher than other, he is always dirty, he's a bumpkin. He looks like a labourer. This id's against the usual clean, dashing and impeccable looks of hero. Allu maintains the bearing and is still likeable because common folks can relate to him. Rashmika plays his love interest. She has large beautiful eyes but has limited role. Fahadh plays bald Rajastani cop and his character appears like an appendage. He should be playing a bigger role in the sequel. Other actors play the bosses in red sandle trade and look the part. Anusaya's character is a contrast. Her appearance and character contrast each other.   

So what's good? Allu delivers a good performance. What he lacks in physique, he compensates with acting. His signature styles of moving the back of hand across chin and lighting cigarette using shirt flap as shelter for the match flame has become famous. Fight scenes are good. They look real. Slo-mo is used very effectively. Cinematography is excellent. Scene of dropping the red sandal logs in river is awesome. Direction is also good. The director keeps the narrative under control for a masala movie. Score is good. You remember it after the movie. Two songs are good but you have to watch them in Telugu to like them, not in Hindi. 

What's not? The length. 3 hours is too long. Editor should have been challenged to trim half an hour. Samantha's name appears in list of actors but she does only one item song. She doesn't play any character. End. The end is strange and doesn't conclude the movie on the high. In fact, the story considerably loses momentum after entry of Fahadh Faasil. Until then it has a very good flow. 

As the name suggests, it's not over. Production of sequel will begin in April 2022. Box office collection of this movie in first month is 1.5 times its production cost. It's a hit. 

This is a masala movie, so audience shouldn't try to find meaning in the movie. It's a watch it, enjoy it, forget it kind of movie.

Watch it if you don't mind the genre.