Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 (2021) on Netflix
NR20212h 59mActionAdventureCrime
Pushpa Raj cuts red sandalwood in the Seshachalam forests with his friend Kesava, and Konda Reddy, a smuggler, hires them both. Pushpa Raj falls for Srivalli, who sells milk.
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- Netflix3.8/5
- IMDb7.6/10101,712 votes
- Rotten TomatoesNot available
Trailer
Plot summary
Red sandalwood grows in the Seshachalam Hills, and Pushpa Raj works there as a cutter with his friend Kesava. Konda Reddy, a smuggler, hires the two of them. Pushpa gets the wood past police checkpoints and outsmarts Govindappa, a police officer, which brings him to the notice of Mangalam Srinu, the regional kingpin of the trade. Konda Reddy's younger brother, Jaali Reddy, resents Pushpa's quick rise. Pushpa Raj falls for Srivalli, who sells milk.
Cast
- Shanmukhas Jakka Reddy
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 (2021)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Sukumar's film was to star Mahesh Babu, but Babu walked out in March 2019 citing creative differences and signed Anil Ravipudi's Sarileru Neekevvaru instead. Sukumar then approached Allu Arjun, reuniting with him a decade after Arya 2 (2009).
- Jisshu Sengupta turned down the antagonist's role over COVID-19 and time constraints, and Vijay Sethupathi, confirmed in January 2020, left in July 2020 citing scheduling conflicts. Malayalam actor Fahadh Faasil was finally announced as the villain in March 2021, his Telugu debut.
- Allu Arjun said the crew used about 400–500 cars in the forest to get from one point to another, and where there were no roads they created pathways with whatever was available. Filming took almost two years.
- For a six-minute action sequence the team hired South Indian action choreographers instead of foreign technicians, making the film a "Make In India" project to employ Indian film workers hit by the pandemic; that sequence reportedly cost ₹6 crore.
- After release the makers deleted a scene in which Pushpa (Allu Arjun) touches Srivalli's (Rashmika Mandanna) chest and discusses it, after fans felt it may not go well with family audiences; more scenes were reportedly cut to shorten the runtime.
- In December 2021 a men's association sued in an Andhra Pradesh court over the song "Oo Antava Oo Oo Antava", saying it portrayed men as casanovas and eve teasers and mocked the male gaze, and asked for a ban on the song.
- Writer Vempalli Gangadhar accused Sukumar and the makers of copyright infringement, saying in a Facebook post on 27 August 2020 that the red sandalwood smuggling storyline was plagiarised from his short story "Coolie", published two years earlier in Sakshi.
- The dialogue "Thaggede Le" ("Jhukega Nahi Saala" in Hindi) became a cult line in Indian pop culture, and the film is widely credited with drawing audiences back to cinemas after the pandemic and making Allu Arjun a pan-Indian star.
