Pushpa 2: An overdose of delirious heroism

[00:00:12] Hello and welcome to Onmanorama Movie Podcast, Start, Action, Cut. Today we are decoding the Telugu language action thriller Pushpa 2 directed by Sukumar and starring Alu Arjun, Rashmika Mandana and Fahad Fasil in lead roles.

[00:00:27] Swati is here. Swati had reviewed the film. Swati, comparing it with the prequel Pushpa 1 and watching the sequel now, how would you like to analyze the film?

[00:00:41] Well, Patmukumar, it is just recently that I watched Pushpa 1 and when I watched Pushpa 2, I understood why there was so much hype for the movie because I think the first movie had everything like that the audience would want like music,

[00:00:56] action, dance, everything that a typical mass masala entertainment requires that the first movie had. So in the second movie, I think that is exactly what Sukumar gives us with this power packed movie and Alu Arjun, I guess, has just given it his all.

[00:01:13] But I was not fully convinced about the story. I mean, I don't know what the movie was establishing because the first movie, like the movie, like the title suggests, it is Pushpa, the rise.

[00:01:28] We get to see this underdog rising from the law walks of life and become the president of the syndicate. And now that now that he's become the president and now he has so much power, he's a powerful person, even in human in a lot of ways.

[00:01:44] You know, I guess that is very expected of a Telugu film. But what was he doing in the second film?

[00:01:50] I mean, I get the fact that he's now powerful and there is this obvious clash with his enemies and all that.

[00:01:57] But what was the movie intending is something that I did not quite understand. Maybe just, you know, a pathway to the third part that we'll have to watch and understand.

[00:02:07] But for me, there were many loose points in the movie, which I was not quite convinced about.

[00:02:11] But then again, coming to the fun and the mass masala part of it, it was an entertainer because I watched the movie with the full packed in a full packed theater and everybody was cheering for Allu Arjun when he was dancing, when he was delivering his dialogues, when the stunt sequences came on.

[00:02:29] And cinematography also was very beautiful. And many scenes, it was so evident that so much creativity and work has gone behind it.

[00:02:36] So in that aspect, I would say that Pushpa 2 was nice. But the story part and maybe, yeah, the story part of it, I was not quite convinced.

[00:02:45] Yeah, I agree with you, but not fully, not completely. Because, but anyway, I too had the same, almost the same feelings about the movie.

[00:02:56] So whatever good things I had noted about the film till the first half washed away in the second half and moving through to the climax.

[00:03:03] Let me first tell you about the likeable aspects. There itself, there is a confusion coming to the opening scene.

[00:03:11] There are two scenes and which of them was actually his dream. We see him dreaming about his, I mean, certain actions and activities.

[00:03:20] But we are not sure which part, which is his dream or both of those aspects were his dream.

[00:03:28] As we enter the world of Pushpa, the basic logic and rules are thrown to winds.

[00:03:33] We need to view from that make-believe domain.

[00:03:37] Then follows the heroics, exploits, swag and romance of Pushpa.

[00:03:41] The superhuman Robin Hood of sorts, Pushpa and his wife, played by Aluarjun and Dashmika Mandana,

[00:03:49] thrill the audience to a great extent with their chemistry and dance moves.

[00:03:53] Then there is Bhavas Singh Shekhawat as the icing on the cake to offer the needed conflict to drive the story ahead.

[00:04:01] The way the plot points are schemed is also interesting, like the introduction of the SP, I mean, the character played by Fahad Fasil.

[00:04:09] The root cause for his ploy to change, I mean, the protagonist's ploy to change the CM,

[00:04:18] the methods manoeuvred to smuggle tons of red sandalwood logs are all, I think, thrilling.

[00:04:25] What do you say?

[00:04:26] Well, Patma Kumar, obviously, yes, we were all excited to see what Fahad Fasil had to bring to the story.

[00:04:35] But somewhere I felt like he was just an extension to many characters of his that we've seen before.

[00:04:41] Like, for instance, I was reminded of the character Ranganna from Avesham.

[00:04:47] I mean, because in the first movie, he had more of a serious...

[00:04:50] I thought the character was more serious.

[00:04:53] Panvar Singh Shekhawat was a serious person who was a psycho to some extent.

[00:04:57] But in this movie, we got to see a comedic side to him as well.

[00:05:00] And I was thinking, okay, was his character deliberately written like that?

[00:05:05] So there is something comedic coming in between his interactions with Pushpa and all that.

[00:05:11] But I think it is because it is Fahad that we could actually feel that he tensioned between Pushpa and Panvar Singh Shekhawat.

[00:05:20] And obviously, yes, Allo Arjun as Pushpa, I think he is the anchor that really pushes the movie forward.

[00:05:26] He has very nice timing and extremely great screen presence that when he's on screen,

[00:05:32] you will just keep looking at him.

[00:05:35] And obviously, his chemistry with Srivalli, played by Rashmika Mandana.

[00:05:38] I mean, that was also very cute and very warming to see.

[00:05:42] I mean, we did not get to see much of Rashmika in the first movie.

[00:05:45] She was there.

[00:05:45] But I think she had more something more to do in the second part.

[00:05:49] But having said that,

[00:05:50] I have to say, I do have a problem with the way women are portrayed in the films like these.

[00:05:56] I mean, I can't really say that also because the logo films function like this.

[00:06:00] And I can't really question this big question because sometimes there is no logic to these films.

[00:06:05] You just get in to see it for the experience.

[00:06:08] But having said that, there were many points where I felt like the women in the movie are extremely underutilized and, you know, things like that.

[00:06:17] So that is something that I felt really, I guess, a little bit bad about.

[00:06:21] But then again, the other argument comes like this is an Allo Arjun movie and you should not be expecting much of a logic.

[00:06:28] This is a Kumar movie, things like that.

[00:06:30] But I had to just put it out there.

[00:06:31] Yeah, but what we love in this film are push-pass style, songs, dance, visuals and, of course, the BGM, the music by Devi Sri Prasad and Polish cinematographer Miroslav Kuba Brozek's camera work give us sumptuous aesthetic feasts.

[00:06:52] But again, the women portrayed, not exactly.

[00:06:56] My problem was not with the women portrayal, but the way certain scenes were executed, even if they were not central character.

[00:07:05] But the way they mistreat the women were not agreeable.

[00:07:10] I think it's time the makers were conscious about doing away with such sequences and scenes in films.

[00:07:19] What do you say?

[00:07:20] I think, Patmogobar, that is true.

[00:07:23] But while I was watching the movie, I understood that there is a great percentage of audience.

[00:07:28] There's a very big percentage of audience who actually are looking forward to these scenes or the chemistry between the duo.

[00:07:34] Because when Rashmika enters the screen, people at the theater were screaming, Srivali, Srivali.

[00:07:40] They were wanting her to...

[00:07:42] I'm not saying what scenes, but there are certain scenes that Srivali does.

[00:07:46] That was there in the first movie and this movie also.

[00:07:49] So they were cheering for her and, you know, I guess they wanted those scenes there.

[00:07:53] And I guess there is no...

[00:07:55] They do not think of how they portrayed or how women are shown.

[00:07:58] None of that matters to these sect of audience that I'm talking about.

[00:08:02] And I think for them, this was an absolute power-packed experience.

[00:08:06] Swati, I don't agree to what you say because there is an audience or a section of audience who really want those scenes.

[00:08:13] They should be given what they want if that is a mistreatment of women.

[00:08:19] So I have not...

[00:08:20] No, I'm not saying they want mistreatment of women.

[00:08:22] I'm saying they want all these, I don't know, the antiques that the woman does in the movie.

[00:08:28] Like there is an item number.

[00:08:30] They're all hooting for her.

[00:08:31] Things like that.

[00:08:32] They're expecting things like that.

[00:08:33] Now coming to what went wrong, I think the runtime of 200 minutes, that's almost 3 hours and 20 minutes.

[00:08:40] They could have edited it well and trimmed it to 2 or 2 and a half hours.

[00:08:47] And stretching scenes to emphasize certain points also leaves it tasteless.

[00:08:52] Like certain scenes are done repeatedly to prove that Pushpa is a loving and caring husband,

[00:08:58] a man who respects women, that he's a man of strong and indomitable ego.

[00:09:03] And the scenes to show his exceptional courage, influence and strength are always there.

[00:09:09] So I think deviation from the storyline and the character is also a problem.

[00:09:14] I feel the strong plot structure started crumbling from the scenes in which Pushpa and his men are seen walking away

[00:09:22] after they successfully transport the sandalwood loggs.

[00:09:25] There is a communication between Banwar Singh, Shekhawat and Pushpa in sign language.

[00:09:32] And the gestures that Shekhawat make him too digressive from the original character.

[00:09:38] Yes, he's comical.

[00:09:39] But here, these gestures and his antics destroys the essence of the character.

[00:09:46] And he sort of cut a poor figure.

[00:09:49] Even an ace actor that far he is, we see him struggling perilously to make those scenes convincing.

[00:09:58] What is your take on the aspects that didn't go well with you?

[00:10:03] One thing is that I still don't understand how Pushpa got this godlike stature.

[00:10:09] I mean, he is at the end of the day, a red sandalwood smuggling thief.

[00:10:14] He's not doing anything legal.

[00:10:16] But yet again, people around him would die for him.

[00:10:20] But we don't really get to see what he's done for them.

[00:10:23] I mean, he might act like this big brother to them, help them in their difficult times.

[00:10:28] Like the scene where he goes to the police station to bail or take that person out of jail.

[00:10:34] But that is a very common thing.

[00:10:36] We don't really see him doing anything extraordinary or going out of his way to do anything for them.

[00:10:41] So I'm really confused as to what Pushpa means to them or what he's done for them.

[00:10:48] And another thing is, in the first movie, there is this whole conversation about the one thing that really affects Pushpa is the fact that his intipere,

[00:10:56] like I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing it right, that's in Telugu, or his family name.

[00:11:01] His father's side of the family is extremely bitter to him and that whole dynamic between him and his brother.

[00:11:06] That is what that really affects Pushpa.

[00:11:08] And the second part also that really comes into play.

[00:11:11] But I mean, in many scenes, I felt like that was extremely, there was a certain sense of melodrama to it and was extremely over-dramatized.

[00:11:20] I mean, it completely took away a lot of good moments they had because, you know,

[00:11:23] there is this person who continuously taunts Pushpa and his mother and even his wife.

[00:11:29] And then the only response that the mother always has is that be more kind, be nice to them.

[00:11:36] And we don't know why she's acting like that.

[00:11:38] In many scenes, I was actually kind of smiling because I did not know the logic behind it.

[00:11:42] There is this scene where this person comes back with a lot of repentance and he wants, you know, them to be like one whole family.

[00:11:51] But then again, the mother is like very kind and very warm.

[00:11:54] And the other grandmother also is like, come invite them over and things like that.

[00:11:58] I don't know if that made sense to you also, Patma Kumar.

[00:12:00] I mean, that was really bizarre.

[00:12:02] Yeah, those super emotional dramatic detour also make the narrative weak and failing.

[00:12:08] I agree with you.

[00:12:09] And the superhuman stunts towards the climax are also cringy, even if we are prepared for logic defying stunt sequences.

[00:12:17] Yeah, true, Swati.

[00:12:18] So another highlight of the movie, I would say is Devi Shri Prasad's music because the kind of cult status that Pushpa 1 had.

[00:12:25] The movie had to live up to the expectations because in the first part you had songs like U Antawa and Sri Walli.

[00:12:33] All those songs were major hits and in this movie, I was not expecting, I don't know, I was not expecting songs to be, to reach that level.

[00:12:41] But while I was watching the movie, I really enjoyed the songs like Kissik and Pushpa, Pushpa, Pushpa, Pushpa, Pushpa, Pushpa, Pushpa Raj.

[00:12:50] That song was also really fun.

[00:12:52] I'm sorry, I'm not a good singer.

[00:12:54] But even there was another song with Pushpa and Sri Walli together and they're dancing around that was really giving this whole very feel-good experience, I guess.

[00:13:05] So in my opinion, I do think that Devi Shri Prasad was able to pull off a good number of songs in the second part as well.

[00:13:12] Yeah, true, Swati.

[00:13:13] The songs and the dance sequences were really thrilling and hilarious.

[00:13:18] Those were the highlights of the movie.

[00:13:19] I think the audience were there in the theatre to enjoy those moments.

[00:13:24] That's what I feel.

[00:13:25] And the world of Pushpa, we know, offers the thrill we expect to some extent.

[00:13:31] But I'm doubtful whether it's worth watching the whole 3 hours and 20 minutes in the theatre.

[00:13:37] That brings us to the end of this episode.

[00:13:40] Thanks for listening to Start Action Cut, produced and hosted by me, Pat Mugumar.

[00:13:45] Follow www.onmanorama.com for more podcasts on movies.

[00:13:49] And be sure to come back for the next episode of Start Action Cut out on Mondays.

[00:13:53] Thank you.

[00:13:54] Thank you.