PUSHPA: THE RISE REVIEW: FEATURING ALLU ARJUN’S BEST PERFORMANCE
Written and directed by Sukumar, Pushpa: The Rise is one of the two-part fiction released on 17th December 2021 in five languages. Tye The languages are Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, and Kannada. Although the plot shows up normal for a 3-hour movie, it was Allu Arjun’s action and swag that made it an edge-of-the-seat action film. So, here’s a review of it.
The film starts with an animated story that tells you about the sandalwood that is available only in Andhra Pradesh. So, it’s obvious that sandalwood is taken as the central theme of the narrative.The whole story revolves around the Sheshachalam hills of the Chittoor district. The protagonist Pushparaj (Allu Arjun) aims to build massive amounts of money, reputation, and power by handling the market of this sandalwood trade, i.e smuggling.
To do this, Pushpa uses his street-smartness and problem-solving skills to make it to the top by crossing Mangalam Sreenu (Sunil), who is known to be the figurehead of sandalwood smuggling until his arrival. Hence, Pushpa’s character has a mass appearance with minor flaws imbibed in him, but who doesn’t have flaws? After all, he was a kid who was never accepted by society and his stepbrothers. Neither in money nor in dignity and respect. Now, he aims to have it all no matter what it takes. His vulnerable side was portrayed only towards his mother and his love, Srivalli (Rashmika Mandanna).
But unfortunately, the women characters have nothing to do other than to look sexy and attract the male audience. Rashmika looked okayish in her de-glamourized look as ‘Srivalli’. Even Anasuya deserved a better role than ‘Dakshayani’ after her performance in Rangasthalam as ‘Mangamma atha’. And Samantha’s ‘Oo antava maava… Oo oo antava maava’ song has gone viral but even that was made for the male gaze.
Also Read: Bheemlanayak Review: Battle between a local ploice and an egoistic mutineer
However, the movie made its remark in the climax scene after the arrival of Bhanawar Singh Shekhawat (Fahadh faasil). The director went bold and took both Fahadh and Allu Arjun to stand in underclothes to convey the message that everyone is the same regardless of where he came from and whom he was born to. But the greatest disappointment is that much of Fahadh Faasil’s acting is saved for part-2 Pushpa: The Rule and we can only see him in the film for the last half-an-hour.
Therefore, this part-1 has its sparkling moments and bland scenes. So, let’s see how Pushpa: The rise will unfold before the audience.
NBM Live Review: 4.5/5
