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Pushpa 2 is a badly misjudged, doubtful sequel that can't capitalise on the wealth of the story world set up in the first film, observes Arjun Menon.
Pushpa: The Rule, the much anticipated sequel to Allu Arjun's juggernaut Pan Indian sensation Pushpa: The Rise, hits theatres after prolonged production delays.
The passion project helmed by Sukumar is a major step down from the first installment, that stalls the momentous ending of its predecessor by way of its unfocused writing.
Pushpa 2 is a badly misjudged, doubtful sequel that can't capitalise on the wealth of the story world set up in the first film.
The world of Pushpa, for all its scale and massive world building, is strangely a world of off handed denials that scar egos and topple empires.
Like, how the hero's paternal heritage being questioned by a cocksure, eccentric cop during the infamous face-off scene, strokes the hero's masculinity into declaring war on the cranky police officer.
Or the way a denied photograph becomes the inciting incident for Sukumar to string together some of his character moments.
Or the way Sukumar uses phallic imagery and allusions to underline the hero's demi god like figure.
The film's opening action set piece in a harbour in Japan is abruptly bookended as being an extension of a bad dream from Pushpa's childhood, both involving him sinking into the depths of water.
It's wild that the film never addresses that jarring jump anytime later. That pretty much sums up the hotchpotch, strapped on nature of this film in a nutshell.
Pushpa 2 is at its best when Sukumar leans into the weird, hyper fixating aspects of his lead character, whose trigger for violence are absurdly costly games of self righteous one upmanship against anyone he thinks is challenging his position in the social hierarchy.
For instance, in a moment's reverie, the now rich and influential Pushpa offers the chief minister position to an ally, just out of spite. There is an innate volatility and unpredictableness that goes along with this kind of character design. But this interesting note is just thrown in there with the other umpteen half backed ideas that populate this double guessing, narratively shabby misfire of epic proportions.
The groundwork was laid in the first part, which balanced the 'Masala Cinema' trappings of a tentpole Allu Arjun vehicle, set in the world of sandalwood trafficking.
Sukumar always had the tone of the first film in control, even when the 'crassness' on display sometimes overshadowed the novelty of the story.
But this time, the 'curse of the sequel' phenomena seems to have caught up with the makers, who can be seen breathlessly nosediving into a barrage of stale, lacklustre set pieces, that is aimed at somehow re-capturing the magic of the first film.
Even Allu Arjun's slightly self-congratulatory performance this time (the first film having fetched him the National Award for Best Actor) seems less impactful as he rarely gets any meat to chew on in terms of a finite arc and emotional revelations and leans on the physical ticks of the character.
But the star pulls this raggedy, bad faith sequel debacle from being an absolute pointless exercise by the sheer will of his stardom and onscreen charm.
Srivalli (Rashmika Mandanna) continues where we left off with the first installment, leading a weirdly co-dependent marriage with Pushpa. The way Sukumar fleshes out their scantily development encounters is indicative of the myriad of problems plaguing this project.
Rashmika is exceptionally adept at playing the devoted partner, who is a mouthpiece for the generous spirit and goodwill of her husband.
These films are not beating the 'casually misogynistic' allegations when it comes to its treatment of women, as all lines and the better part of the screen space relegated to her is only in times when she either supports her husband or marvels at his loyalty towards his family.
The problem lies not with the outright dismissal of any interiority but the projection of a male gaze into her character type that jumps between saucy and wide eyed naivete, in quick succession, with nothing else going on under the surface.
But Rashmika makes a meal out of a monologue in the latter half, and adds some texture to the material that is not in the writing.
Fahadh Faasil gets some of the finer moments in this film though the character's explosive streak that we saw in the first film is not carried over with the same intensity.
Still, the actor relishes playing the enigmatic bad guy. But the film's juggling between modes of one upmanship, an overdone family drama angle, and a random kidnapping subplot never lets any of these moments breathe.
We get a greatly conceived scene between Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat (Fahadh Faasil) and Pushpa engaging in a pissing contest of sorts, standing at a distance from each other with their respective entourages, dolling out threats with a serving of the classic wry humour, in one of those rare moments that click with what we have all come to expect and like from Sukumar's visually imaginative storytelling chops.
Devi Sri Prasad's songs are largely hit and miss, and fail to land the impact of his own iconic soundtrack from the first film.
Mirosław Kuba Brożek manages to evoke the first film with his colourfully exuberant frames and keeps the slickness, without falling back to forceful, sepia and black drenched contrast lighting that has become a staple of recent mainstream action cinema.
Pushpa 2 is afraid to be its own beast even though it aspires for more spectacle, and wants so badly to please the fans of the original film.
This worrying duality doesn't split the difference and we end up with a namesake, watered down adventure that is not a patch on the first film.
We will have to wait for the third installment, Pushpa 3: The Rampage, which the makers announce at the tail end of this film to see if Sukumar and team will be able to bring back the 'wildness' of the original film.
