Title: Pushpa 2: The Rule
Director: B. Sukumar
Cast: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil, Jagapathi Babu, Dhananjaya, Rao Ramesh, Sunil, Anasuya Bharadwaj and others.
Where: In Theatres
Rating: 3.5 stars
Brace yourselves for a cinematic juggernaut where gravity isn’t just defied but utterly dismissed, and the ego is not merely bruised but gloriously worshipped. This film is the sequel to the 2021 blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise. It returns with a vengeance, promising not just a continuation of the saga but a leap into the stratosphere of South Indian mass cinema, where subtlety is but a quaint myth.
The film picks up where its predecessor left off—Pushpa Raj, essayed by the ever-charismatic Allu Arjun, has traded his local smuggling operations for an international playground. From the dense red sandalwood forests of Chittoor to global domination, Pushpa’s rise is nothing short of folklore-worthy. His awkward gait and signature hand gesture are back, more flamboyant than ever, as he bulldozes adversaries, systems, and, occasionally, logic itself.
Director Sukumar pulls out all the stops in delivering a spectacle that unapologetically caters to its target audience. The narrative blends action, drama, romance, and humour with the finesse of a curry where every spice screams for attention. The plot is delightfully absurd—Pushpa overthrows a Chief Minister because his wife Srivalli (Rashmika Mandanna) desires a photograph with the politician, halts an entire town to rescue his kidnapped niece, and schools a megalomaniacal IPS officer Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat (Fahadh Faasil) with gravity-defying stunts. Pushpa doesn’t merely fight; he performs physics-defying acrobatics with limbs tied and eyes obstructed, ensuring every punch lands as a metaphorical roar.
The dialogues are the kind that demand whistles and hoots, with lines like “Pushpa ka faisla mandir ka prasad jaisa hai…” or “Mai jhukhunga nahin sala,” ensuring they’ll echo in college canteens for years. Yet beneath the bombast lies a surprisingly resonant emotional arc. Pushpa’s journey is fuelled by a childhood scar—a bruised ego that morphs into his raison d’être. It’s this vulnerable core, exaggerated to a cinematic extreme, that holds the audience captive through the 200-minute marathon.
Performances are gloriously over the top, with Allu Arjun reigning supreme. His Pushpa is magnetic, maddening, and everything a mass hero is meant to be. Fahadh Faasil matches him beat for beat as his nemesis Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, and their clash is a testosterone-charged spectacle. Rashmika Mandanna as Srivalli lends charm, though she often feels relegated to the sidelines, while the ensemble cast gamely contributes to the chaos.
Technically, the film is a marvel. Devi Sri Prasad’s music is a pulse-pounding delight, elevating every dramatic confrontation and choreographed brawl. Mirosław Kuba Brożek’s cinematography captures the glitz of Pushpa’s world with vivid, larger-than-life visuals. The VFX oscillates between dazzling and cartoonish, but it’s all in service of the spectacle.
For all its flaws—pacing that sags under its gargantuan runtime, a narrative that occasionally trades logic for lunacy, and a penchant for excess—it’s impossible to ignore the sheer magnetism of Pushpa 2. It’s indulgent, ridiculous, and thoroughly entertaining. The film concludes with a clear promise of more chapters to follow, and why not? In Pushpa’s world, the rise never ends—it merely finds new heights to conquer.
