Devi Sri Prasad composed the film's score and soundtrack while the cinematography and editing are performed by Miroslaw Kuba Brozek and Karthika Srinivas–Ruben respectively. The film began its 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, predominantly taking place at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad and Maredumilli forest in Andhra Pradesh.
Pushpa: The Rise was released on 17 December 2021. The film received generally mixed reviews from critics who praised the performances (particularly of Allu Arjun and Fahadh Faasil), action sequences, cinematography, direction, and soundtrack but criticised the runtime and editing.[16][17][18][19][20] The film was commercially successful, grossing ₹355–₹365 crore at the box office. The film emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film in 2021, and ranks among the highest-grossing Telugu films of all time.[21]
A sequel titled Pushpa 2: The Rule is under production.[22]
Plot
In the 1990s, Pushpa Raj, a laborer, decides to smuggle red sandalwood, a rare wood in high demand that only grows in the Seshachalam Hills of the Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh with his friend sidekick Keshava. When DSP Govindappa and his team raid the forest for apprehending the coolies and seize the stock, Pushpa hides it, gets arrested and brutally beaten for revealing the location of wood. Pushpa's employer, smuggler Konda Reddy and his brothers bail Pushpa out for the stock's location and he eventually rises through the ranks by suggesting novel ideas to smuggle the stock earning Konda Reddy's trust and becoming his partner, while also simultaneously receiving hatred from Konda Reddy's youngest brother Jolly Reddy.
Known for his cruelty and oppression, Managalam Srinu, Konda Reddy's boss and a big criminal, manages the syndicate entrusts Konda Reddy to keep 200 tons of his contraband safe from the Police Department. As Jolly Reddy is deemed incompetent for task, Pushpa is assigned to do the same. Jolly Reddy intentionally delays the export of wood putting Pushpa in a perplexed condition as Govindappa is about to raid the place. Pushpa throws all the logs into a nearby river while Keshava bribes the chief engineer of the dam to close its gates preventing the logs from flowing and Govindappa gains nothing with the raid for second time. Srinu hosts a party on this occasion and during the festivity, Pushpa overhears the conversation of two people discussing Srinu's scams and realizes that he sells wood at much higher price than what they are paid. He informs it to Konda Reddy suggesting him to demand a fair share from Srinu but gives up when going against a highly influential Srinu seems risky.
Meanwhile, Pushpa falls in love with a brave and outspoken milk seller Srivalli, who is the daughter of a coolie Muniratnam, who is also indulged in smuggling like Pushpa and eventually, an engagement is arranged for them. During the ceremony, Pushpa's elder half-brother Mohan creates a scene, condemns Pushpa for using their father's name to fix his marriage with Srivalli as Pushpa was born out of wedlock to Pushpa's father and mother Parvatamma, who is not legally married. During the scuffle, Parvatamma is wounded and her miseries motivate Pushpa to make himself, an influential personality. He smuggles the wood directly to Chennai bypassing Srinu and later meets the latter demanding a higher price than what is paid but when rejected and ordered to be beaten, Pushpa revolts, goes to Chennai and cuts deal with the customer Murugan for 1.5 crores per tonne which Konda Reddy and Pushpa agree to share equally. Govindappa detains Muniratnam while smuggling the wood and threatens him to be a mole. Jolly Reddy, who lusts for Srivalli learns about Muniratnam's deceit and blackmails Srivalli to sleep with him in exchange of her father's freedom, holding him captive.
Srivalli reveals about this to Pushpa, who furiously beats Jolly Reddy black and blue putting him in a paralyzed state. When Jolly Reddy refuses to reveal about the person behind his condition to his brothers as he wants it to be avenged by himself, Konda Reddy, himself finds that Pushpa is responsible for it. He attempts to murder Pushpa but Srinu's men led by his brother-in-law Mogileesu attack them and assassinate Konda Reddy. Pushpa rescues Konda Reddy's younger brother Jakka Reddy rekindling their friendship and murders Mogileesu. MP Bhumireddy Siddappa Naidu arranges a truce between Pushpa and Srinu and after discovering about the latter's scams, he appoints Pushpa to replace Srinu. As time pass by, Pushpa becomes an influential person while Srinu's wife Dakshayani injures Srinu berating his inability.
While Pushpa is at his prime, Bhanwar Singh Shekawat, a ruthless Police official takes charge as the districts SP. Pushpa offers a bribe to Bhanwar for cooperation but the latter ridicules Pushpa for his parents' story and his motives for that are to make Pushpa call him "sir". After this incident, Pushpa turns meek and submissive towards Bhanwar, who regularly receives bribes from him. Pushpa, on the day of his marriage spends partying with Bhanwar alone where he converses about the past incident and Bhanwar's humiliating conduct. Pushpa seizes Bhanwar's gun and forces him to be semi-naked while he also does the same, intending to explain that he is same without clothes while Bhanwar is nothing without his uniform and even his pet dog would not identify him. Pushpa leaves to wed Srivalli while an insulted Bhanwar walks home, semi-naked and as said earlier, his pet fails to identify him without uniform. Enraged, Bhanwar kills his pet and burns the bribe sent by Pushpa, swearing revenge while Pushpa marries Srivalli, telling the latter that the actual story has begun.
Cast
Allu Arjun as Pushpa Raj, a daily wage laborer who eventually manages the syndicate overthrowing Mangalam Srinu.
Rashmika Mandanna as Srivalli, Pushpa's fiancée and wife at the end
Fahadh Faasil as SP Bhanwar Singh Shekawat, an egoistic officer who is humiliated by Pushpa for insulting him and eventually swears revenge as retaliation.
Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari as Keshava aka Mondelu, Pushpa's close ally who is associated to him in his every step
Sunil as Mangalam Srinu, a repressive man who manages the syndicate and is eventually overthrown by Pushpa
Rao Ramesh as MP Bhumireddy Siddappa Naidu, a politician who appoints Pushpa to manage the syndicate as Srinu's replacement
Dhananjaya as Jolly Reddy, Konda Reddy and Jakka Reddy's younger brother who dislikes Pushpa for his popularity and ended up getting beaten up by him for blackmailing Srivalli
Anasuya Bharadwaj as Dakshayani "Daksha", Srinu's wife who seeks to take revenge on Pushpa for her brother's death
Ajay as Molleti Mohan, Pushpa's elder half-brother who refuses to accept him
Ajay Ghosh as Konda Reddy, Pushpa's former employer turned partner who is murdered by Mogileesu
Shatru as DSP Govindappa, who seeks to expose the syndicate
Shanmukh as Jakka Reddy, Konda Reddy's younger brother and Pushpa's partner
Sritej as Pushpa's second elder half-brother
Pavani Karanam as Pushpa's niece and Mohan's daughter
Mime Gopi as Chennai Murugan, a smuggler
Brahmaji as Sub-Inspector Kupparaj, Bhanwar's junior official
Kalpalatha as Parvatamma, Pushpa's mother who is condemned by the society for having a son out of wedlock
Dayanand Reddy as Muniratnam, Srivalli's father who is threatened by Govindappa to be his mole in the syndicate
Raj Tirandasu as Mogileesu, Srinu's brother-in-law who is killed by Pushpa
Samantha Ruth Prabhu as a dancer (cameo appearance in the song "Oo Antava Oo Oo Antava")
Production
Development
Post the success of Rangasthalam (2018), Sukumar narrated a script to Mahesh Babu, with whom he previously worked in 1: Nenokkadine (2014).[23] Babu, who liked the story, gave a nod to the project,[23] and was reported to start the shoot after completing Vamshi Paidipally's project Maharshi (2019).[23] In mid-April 2019, 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.[24][b] 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.[25][26] The actor instead signed his next project with Anil Ravipudi titled as Sarileru Neekevvaru,[27][28] whereas Sukumar approached Allu Arjun for his next marking his reunion with the director after a decade since Arya 2 (2009),[29] Mythri Movie Makers which earlier associated with Babu and Sukumar's project also agreed to produce the venture.[30][31]
Sukamar narrated Babu a story based on red-sanders. However, once the project was shelved, he came up with a different storyline on red sanders for Allu Arjun. Speaking with Press Trust of India, Sukumar said: "with Mahesh Babu, I couldn’t make him cool. He is very fair. So, the backdrop was the same but the story is different."[32]
Pre-production
The plot revolves around the smuggling of red sandalwood (image pictured).
Sukumar described the storyline as, "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."[33] 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 make it as a feature film.[34] He personally went for location scouting across Nallamala Forest as the film is set in Rayalaseema and Nellore and the plot revolves around red sanders smuggling.[35] Since most of the film takes place in a rural backdrop, Allu Arjun was reported to master Chittoor accent for the film,[36] and the makers hired a team from Bollywood to work on his look.[36] The story was set against the backdrop of Seshachalam forest, located in the hilly region of Tirumala.[35] Polish cinematographer Miroslaw Kuba Brozek, who worked for Nani's Gangleader (2019) was signed for the film. Karthika Srinivas is performing the film's editing, whereas Mounika and Ramakrishna, the art directors of Sukumar's previous film Rangasthalam (2018) were chosen for production design.[37] Resul Pookutty is signed for the film's sound design, along with Vijay Kumar.[38] 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.[39]
Casting
Allu Arjun played the titular character Pushpa Raj, a red-sanders smuggler, and sported a bearded look for his role in the film.[40] Rashmika Mandanna was cast as the film's lead actress,[41] with an official announcement made on Allu Arjun's birthday (8 April 2019).[42] Mandanna in an online interaction confirmed that she will be learning a new dialect for the film, which is slightly based on the accent of Chittoor.[43][44] Jisshu Sengupta was originally offered to play the antagonist but he refused due to pandemic and time constraint.[45][46] Vijay Sethupathi entered in talks to play the antagonist in October 2019, after working with Sukumar in the director's production venture Uppena (2021),[47][48] and was confirmed to be part of the film in January 2020.[49] However, in July 2020, Sethupathi left the film citing scheduling conflicts.[50] Post Sethupathi's exit, Vikram,[51] Bobby Simha,[52] Madhavan[53] and Arya[54] were reported to play negative roles in the film, but Malayalam actor Fahadh Faasil was announced as the film's antagonist in March 2021, thus marking his debut in Telugu cinema[citation needed].[55] For his role in the film, Fahadh sported a bald look and a rough moustache.[56]
Kannada actor Dhananjaya was reported to play a pivotal role in April 2020.[57] Jagapathi Babu and Prakash Raj were signed to play key roles in the film.[58] In November 2020, Sunil was cast in a supporting role and was present in the film's second schedule along with Harish Uthaman, and Vennela Kishore.[59] Sunil's character was reported to have grey shades in the film.[54] Though it was reported that Anasuya Bharadwaj was playing a crucial role, she later clarified that she wasn't approached for the film.[60] However, Bharadwaj joined the film shooting in April 2021.[61] In July 2021, Sritej confirmed that he was cast in the role of Pushpa Raj's brother.[62] The film had three antagonists, with Sunil and Anasuya, being the antagonists in the first part,[63][64] while Fahadh's character, Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, the main antagonist, will appear only at the end of the first part and will continue throughout its sequel.[65] Jagadeesh was cast by Sukumar after watching his performances in the films Mallesham (2019) and George Reddy (2019).[66] In an interview, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari revealed that he has left 15 smaller projects for working in the film.[67] Samantha joined the production in late-November 2021. She has shot for the item song "Oo Antava Oo Oo Antava" alongside Allu Arjun and others.[68][69] On working in the song, she said that "being sexy is next level hard work".[70]
Filming
In July 2019, the makers planned to start the filming during the occasion of Dusshera (7 October 2019).[71] However, the launch event of the film took place on 30 October 2019,[72] with a formal puja ceremony held in Hyderabad at the office of Mythri Movie Makers,[73] with the film's cast and crew being present at the event.[74][75] In December 2019, Sukumar performed a test shoot in Kerala's Athirappilly Falls.[76] After Allu Arjun's involvement in the promotions of Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo (2020),[36] the makers planned to shoot the first schedule of the film in Kerala in March 2020, with Arjun joining the schedule, however, the filming was halted due to COVID-19 pandemic in India.[77]
Majority of the film was shot in Maredumilli, Andhra Pradesh
For a 6-minute action sequence in the film, the team planned to hire action choreographers from South India, instead of opting for foreign technicians.[78] Thus, the film became a "Make In India" project, an initiative to provide employment to the workers from the Indian Film Industry, after some technicians faced employment crisis due to the pandemic.[citation needed] This sequence is reported to be made a cost of ₹6 crore (US$750,000) and Allu Arjun has been trained intensively for this sequence.[79][78]
The makers later planned to shift the location from Kerala to Andhra Pradesh, due to restrictions on travel, in order to curb the COVID-19 pandemic.[80] In June 2020, the makers planned to resume the shoot in Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad,[81] and later planned to shoot the film at Nalgonda.[82] Post government permitted film shootings with minimal crew,[83] the makers resumed filming on 10 November 2020 in Maredumilli forest in Andhra Pradesh,[33][84] and completed within 14 days.[85] The team moved to Rajahmundry in December 2020 to shoot key sequences, but was indefinitely postponed to January 2021, as twelve crew members working in the film were diagnosed with COVID-19.[86][87] The shooting later resumed in January 2021 and the production house tweeted that two schedules at Rampachodavaram and Maredumilli was completed within February 2021.[88] The team also finished a schedule at Kerala in March 2021.[89]
The shooting of the film was put on hold due to restrictions following second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India,[90] and Allu Arjun was also diagnosed with COVID-19 in late April.[91] The team resumed the final leg shooting on 6 July 2021,[92] with a major schedule was filmed in Secunderabad,[93] but came to a halt on 24 July 2021 when Sukumar was diagnosed with dengue fever.[94] The filming resumed after Sukumar recovered from the disease.[94][95] On 22 August 2021, Fahadh Faasil joined the shooting schedule of the film.[96] After wrapping her portions in the Hindi film Goodbye, Rashmika joined the shoot for filming her portions.[97] In September 2021, she rejoined the shoot after a brief break.[98] On 8 September, Allu Arjun headed to Maredumilli to film the final schedule.[99] After a month-long production, on 4 October, the team started shooting face off scenes between Allu Arjun and Fahadh Faasil.[100] Finally, a special song featuring Samantha was filmed in November 2021 at a specially constructed set at the Ramoji Film City and "Ey Bidda Idi Na Adda " song, was Arjun filmed at Mallikarjun swami mandir of Beeramguda. After this, the film entered into the full-fledged post-production phase.[101]
Speaking to the media at a promotional event of Tamil version in Chennai, Allu Arjun said that "We had about 400-500 cars in the forest that would take us from point A to B. In some places, there were no roads and we had to create a pathway with whatever was available. The filming itself took us almost two years, that is why I say this: the effort we had put in for Pushpa is equal to four films."[102]
Post-production
The dubbing works of the film have begun in April 2021.[103] Ten days before the release of the film, Shreyas Talpade confirmed that he has dubbed for Allu Arjun of the film's Hindi version.[104] Jis Joy who has dubbed for Arjun's previous films in Malayalam, has been signed to voice dub for Allu Arjun of the film's Malayalam version.[105] By the early-December 2021 he has completed his portions of dubbing.[106] K. P. Sekar lent Allu Arjun’s voice for the film’s Tamil version.[107] Fahadh Faasil has dubbed for his role in all the languages,[108] except Hindi.
