PUSHPA: THE RISE (2021)
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| Critic No. 256 |
Written by: Sukumar
Produced by: Naveen Yerneni, Y. Ravi Shankar
Casts: Allu Arjun, Fahadh Fazil, Rashmika Mandanna, Sunil
Language: Telugu
Genre: Action
Music: Devi Sri Prasad
SYNOPSIS:
Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) a coolie, volunteers to smuggle red sanders, a rare wood that only grows in Andhra, with the help of novel ideas to smuggle the red sanders. Pushpa quickly becomes the leader of the red sanders smuggling network. While Pushpa is at his prime, a ruthless police officer Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat (Fahadh Faasil) takes charge as SP and ridicules Pushpa for his lineage.
REVIEW:
After the much entertaining Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, Allu Arjun is back with the contrasting Pushpa: The Rise, a larger-than-life, village-based action film. After a terrific show in Rangasthalam (2018), director Sukumar strikes back with an expensive pan Indian film that had stirred a great hype even before the release thanks to Devi Sri Prasad’s chartbuster album as well.
So what’s the film about? Pushpa Raj (Allu Arjun) is one of the many coolies in Seshachalam who chop down red sandalwood illegally and sell it by the kilo to powers-that-be. In a syndicate that consists of numerous players, Pushpa slowly learns to find his footing and rise in ranks till the man who would once chop down these trees becomes the one giving the orders. Of course, in between the rise, there are tons of villains, a lady love, and exhilarating action set pieces that the film presents in its 3 hours of runtime.
Pushpa: The Rise is backed by a story that’s been explored in Indian cinema for ages – the rise of the underdog. Therefore, sadly, Sukumar really has nothing new to explore here. However, he takes his time to develop Pushpa’s character and design the system of smuggling with a good mix of humor, romance, and action. In the pre-interval portions when the filmmaker, whilst ensuring every scene explodes with wit and humour, introduces us to the power hierarchy and the impossibility of rising in such a rigged system. The subtle touch on the caste system of course is well coated in a mainstream film like this. The way Pushpa fights both the external conflicts (smugglers) and internal conflicts (his childhood baggage as an illegitimate child) is nicely weaved.
The romance doesn’t work at all with a feeble track between Allu Arjun and Raashmika with the latter trying too hard to maintain her ‘cute’ persona in her other films. There’s a half-hearted attempt in the latter part of the film to force some agency into Srivalli’s character, but the weak monologue from her only seems like an excuse for her whole existence in the film. Pushpa meanwhile revels in his celebration of masculinity by rescuing her, and Srivalli responds by worshipping the sand that he walks on, calling him ‘Saami’ (means, ‘God’) in the much-celebrated song. Are we really in 2021?
Allu Arjun literally carries the film with his great involvement in the role that we can witness in the lengthy dialogues, emotional scenes as well as exciting songs the film has. There is a perfect groove between cinematographer Mirosław Kuba Brożek and director Sukumar seem to have found the perfect groove for this film, complementing each other with their work. Pushpa's character's costumes see a change depending on his standing in this world. The supporting cast also gets a chance to shine, despite sometimes being pigeon-holed into playing characters that are nothing more than fighting stocks for the hero to show how strong he is. So after one point of time, we know that nothing can really bring down Pushpa which kind of derails the engagement factor. The much-hyped song, ‘Oo Antava’ grooved by Samantha gets its intended impact on the audience with terrific choreography by Ganesh Acharya.
That said, the film does engage you from start to finish despite being predictable, loud, and sometimes chauvinistic. Sukumar does keep his successful formula intact and his hard-hitting dialogues, casual humor and commercial sensibilities salvage all the shortcomings as usual. It cannot be helped that the ending feels quite abrupt as it closes after the introduction of the much-hyped Fahadh Fazil’s entry. But the emerging clash definitely shows promise setting a strong potential for the sequel.
VERDICT:
Backed with Allu Arjun’s terrific screen presence and strong technical team, ‘Pushpa’ does manage to grip you well despite the overlong, generic screenplay.
CELLULOID METER- 3/5:
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