Rags-to-riches stories have always resonated well with Indian single-screen masala movie viewers, especially because of the direct connection these movies share with the majority of lower-middle-class audiences, who want to see their aspirations reflected in the characters they see on the silver screen. With that in mind, the phenomenal success of the Telugu blockbuster Pushpa: The Rise, even with a release date in a pandemic year, doesn’t seem all that unexpected or extraordinary. The Allu Arjun-starrer blockbuster ticked every box it needed to ensure a grand success. Showing a common man’s rise to power—a theme that has been celebrated on the Indian silver screen since forever, highlighting themes of identity and class conflict without skimping on the entertainment factor, and by making a statement with the mercurial protagonist and his swagger. The narrative might feel like old wine in a new bottle, but the stellar performance by the Telugu superstar in the lead makes up for any shortcomings with ease. With the second part of the movie, Pushpa 2: The Rule, scheduled to release in theaters worldwide later this week, let’s take a brief look at the events that transpired in the first movie and everything about the titular lead himself.
Spoilers Ahead
Significance of Red Sandalwood
Pushpa: The Rise focuses on red sandalwood smuggling as the backdrop and conflict of the central narrative, and the beginning segment of the movie highlights the significance of this prized material through an animated sequence. The shamisen, the Japanese musical instrument that is used in wedding ceremonies and is an integral part of Japanese culture, is made of red sandalwood, which gets smuggled to the country via China, who in turn receive illegal exports from the ports of Southern India. The red sandalwood trees, which grow only in the mountainous wilderness of Andhra Pradesh—one of the southern states in India, especially near Seshachalam Hills—where the movie is set, is an endangered species that gets heavily smuggled due to its high demand in international markets. There are strict laws enforced to put an end to the extensive smuggling racket, which continues depleting the resource by cutting down sandalwood trees, but having an equivalent of gold growing in the forests, the laws are as effective in stopping the smuggling as you’d expect them to be. Violent clashes between authorities and smugglers are a common affair, although the police most often settle things with monetary remuneration. In fact, the syndicate is sprawling enough to have even politicians and ministers actively involved in the crime empire, which has been founded upon red sandalwood smuggling.
Humble Beginnings and Pushpa’s Drive
Set in the 90s, Pushpa: The Rise revolves around the small-time laborer, Pushpa Raj, whose defining features are his vaulting ambition and pride in his own self. Living with his mother in a village near Seshachalam, Pushpa struggles to earn a living, but prestige and respect are of cardinal importance to him, for which he isn’t willing to compromise with anything else, even if it costs him his job. There is a reason as to why Pushpa’s sense of self-respect is so pronounced, as a focus on his childhood reveals that being an illegitimate child of a village head honcho, Molletti Venkatraman, Pushpa and his mother have always been at the receiving end of his elder half-brother, Mohan’s oppressions. Mohan not only denied Pushpa his paternal identity, but he also made sure that he lived in misery by evicting his family from their home, forcing Pushpa to live with the agony of being rootless. In the patriarchal society where Pushpa belongs, financial status or other social standings mean nothing if one lacks the paternal identity, and having been compelled to live such a life, Pushpa has grown up to be extremely sensitive about his own identity. He continues to hanker for recognition and is willing to go to great lengths to achieve it. The themes of parental recognition and the common man’s rise to power are recurrent ones in the Indian mass movie scene; a significant number of 80s movies starring Amitabh Bachchan have mused on the topic time and again.Â
Pushpa gets himself entangled in the red sandalwood smuggling business to score some easy money and finds himself a loyal follower/friend in Kesava, who admires Pushpa for the strength of his character. DSP Govindappa, a hardboiled cop who isn’t swayed by bribes or other arrangements offered by criminals, is known to regularly crack down on the smugglers—but Pushpa manages to secure the shipment without getting others caught. After getting himself caught, Pushpa refuses to break down under police torture or to share intel about the smuggling, which draws the attention of the reddy brothers—the chief controllers of the smuggling operation in these areas.
Pushpa’s Rise to Power
Pushpa proves his loyalty and wit to Konda Reddy, the dreaded eldest Reddy brother, and to Jakka Reddy, the mastermind behind their operations—but instead of a fixed cut, he settles for a percentage of profit in exchange for handling their operation, thereby ensuring he has an equal stake in the business. As always, more than anything, prestige and respect are of utmost priority to Pushpa, no matter who he is dealing with. Jaali Reddy, the youngest of the brothers, a perverted womanizer, remains distrustful of Pushpa and belittles him by reminding him of the difference between their social standings. Pushpa answers him by blowing his entire lump sum of his first take buying a car to show off to Mohan—his own half-brother—and to Jaali as well. In the meantime, Pushpa falls for a local girl, Srivalli, and their romance builds up in a kind of dysfunctional way if I’m being honest, but whatever works in the narrative context, I guess. Pushpa is by no means an ordinary straight-arrow heroic figure, so in a way, expecting his love life to take a traditional turn would be wrong as well.
Tricking Govindappa and his men, Pushpa manages to smuggle shipments of wood using a myriad of different unique ways—proving his ingenuity to his partners. However, Govindappa manages to nab one of their shipments and forces two workers on Reddy’s payroll to snitch on them. One of the workers turns out to be Srivalli’s father, who is coerced to expose the location of one of the main outposts where crores of sandalwood have been stashed.
Mangalam Srinu, a feared gangster who manages the syndicate and supplies the sandalwood to the port areas, comes into the picture as his shipment gets stationed in the aforementioned outpost of the Reddys’. Srinu and Konda Reddy go way back, and it is imperative for Konda to keep his shipment secure for the successful continuation of their partnership. However, upon learning that police have discovered their outpost, Konda plans to throw Pushpa under the bus by blaming him for the loss, but once again—Pushpa’s quick-wittedness saves the day as he throws a shipment worth crores into the rivers, only to later gather it by locking the river dam.
Pushpa learns that, as a middleman, Srinu is swindling the Reddys, providing them only a quarter of what they could gain by directly dealing with the exporters. As he approaches Konda with the proposal of asking Srinu to hike up the profit margin, he appears unwilling but entrusts Pushpa to make the deal in his stead. Pushpa goes to Srinu to bargain, but facing hostility makes quite a scene—making a point that he can’t be trifled with. This time, he directly goes to the exporter with prime cuts of sandalwood and practically eliminates Srinu’s influence as a middleman, gaining a huge profit as a result. Now even though Pushpa had acted all on his own, informing Konda about his activities on a need-to-know basis, given the fact that he is in a partnership with the Reddy brothers, Srinu starts blaming Konda and his men for defying him. In the meantime, Pushpa’s marriage with Srivalli is foiled by Mohan’s attempt to malign Pushpa and his family’s reputation, and as Pushpa loses his calm and engages in a scuffle, his mother gets injured. Tending to his ailing mother, a hurt Pushpa pledges to defy social expectations and hindrances to see himself at the top.
As Srivalli’s father is exposed as the turncoat, Jaali abducts him and tries to blackmail her into sleeping with him in exchange for his freedom. Srivalli approaches Pushpa for help and professes her love for him, which prompts Pushpa to beat Jaali to a bloody pulp, temporarily paralyzing him as a result. Even though Pushpa had considered that Jaali’s ego wouldn’t allow him to rat Pushpa out to his brothers, Konda eventually finds out about Pushpa’s actions and has him abducted. However, Konda wasn’t simply trying to avenge his brother; Pushpa’s influence was growing at a dangerous, rapid pace, and Konda knew he needed to eliminate Pushpa before the situation turned worse. However, Pushpa is saved by the sudden appearance of Srinu’s men, and in the ensuing gunfight, Konda dies. Pushpa saves Jakka Reddy from Srinu’s men and kills Srinu’s brother-in-law Mogileesu in retaliation. MP Naidu, another profiteer of the syndicate, learns about Srinu’s treachery and entrusts Pushpa with managing the syndicate, replacing Srinu. Pushpa made a few enemies as he climbed up the ladder of the syndicate, as Srinu and his wife Dakshayani plan to get revenge on him, as does Jaali Reddy as well. In the sequel, we might see these two parties joining hands to bring about Pushpa’s downfall. However, Pushpa does well to keep Jakka Reddy by his side; being the mastermind of the smuggling racket, his alliance will definitely prove significant in the long run.
Pride Over Everything
Having a significant social presence and risking his life to save Srivalli and his father, Pushpa is accepted by her family, and once again their wedding is arranged. By now, Govindappa has been replaced by the new DSP, Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat—a dishonorable, psychopathic cop who has absolutely no regard for the lives of the downtrodden and abuses his power rampantly. Pushpa goes to invite Shekhawat to his wedding, offering settlement money for his cooperation with the syndicate but has a nasty awakening as Shekawat promptly reminds him of the difference in their respective social positions. As Shekawat mentions, no matter how much influence or money Pushpa has, his heritage as a bastard will always stigmatize him, while Shekhawat, a respected government official, will enjoy a much more respectable position. The DSP’s words sting Pushpa like a snake’s fang, but he keeps his calm and continues to abide by his commands unquestioningly.
In reality, Pushpa was biding his time and gaining Shekawat’s trust to give him a reality check in the most shocking way possible, and on his wedding night, he takes Shekawat to a secluded location with the excuse of spending some time chilling alone. Having the perfect opportunity, Pushpa lambasts Shekawat, mocking his pride over social status, and forces him to strip his uniform while he himself strips down as well, to prove a point that, without his uniform, Shekawat is a nobody, while Pushpa, a self-made man who has garnered respect not by his social standing—but by his deeds alone—is regarded all the same with or without his clothes. Pushpa makes himself bleed by shooting himself in the arm, symbolizing his father’s heritage coursing through his veins—which forms his identity, and neither Mohan nor Shekawat can ever deny him that. A strong caste discourse is hinted at by Pushpa’s words, as both Mohan and Shekawat enjoy superior social positions and ridicule Pushpa for his outcast, rootless heritage. The blood symbolism is reflected in Pushpa’s affinity for everything red—sandalwood, the color of the vehicle of his choice, his attire, etc.
In the final moments of the movie, Pushpa returns to his wedding, while a shaken, humiliated Shekawat returns to his home—and kills his dog, who, just like Pushpa had mentioned, couldn’t recognize him without his uniform. Shekawat burns down the crore worth of settlement money and swears revenge on Pushpa. Alternatively, Pushpa too is aware that he has struck right at the hornet’s nest by inciting Shekawat’s rage.
