Rajamouli urged us to release ‘Pushpa’ across India: Sukumar
Helmed by Sukumar, Telugu’s most awaited movie ‘Pushpa: The Rise’ hits the screens on Friday.
As the team has promoted the movie enough, the absence of the director during the promotions caused a little loss to the team. As Sukumar finally joined the promotions on Thursday, he had spoken about the movie and his experience working for ‘Pushpa’.
Speaking about the pan-India release of ‘Pushpa’, the director said that S.S. Rajamouli was the one who was persistent to take this movie across the country.
“Rajamouli called me up and urged me to take this movie across India. He urged me to release ‘Pushpa’ pan-India, which we were reluctant until that time. His push made me feel confident and hence we decided to release it across India in multiple languages”, Sukumar said.
On being quizzed about Allu Arjun’s signature gesture ‘Thaggede Le’, Sukumar said that they had experimented with many other things and finally fixated on one gesture, which is now a super hit one.
Sukumar said: “We were trying on many gestures, but we accidentally came across this gesture. As Bunny (Allu Arjun) was on the sets working during a fight scene, I observed him do something closer to the ‘thaggede le’ gesture. So, we worked on this and it has become a big hit now”, the director explained.
‘Pushpa’ hits the screens with good early reviews. Rashmika Mandanna, Sunil, Ajay Gosh, Fahadh Fassil, Anasuya, and others appear in the main roles.
Pushpa Movie Review – Allu Arjun the only positive
Pushpa Movie review
Pushpa Movie review
Telugu360 Rating : 2.75/5
Story:
Pushparaju is a daily wage worker with the ambition and attitude to win big. Set in the forest backdrop of the Seshachalam forest, the film follows Pushpa’s rise from a coolie to that of a red sandalwood syndicate leader.
Analysis :
The film opens with a voice over describing the demand for red sandalwood in the international market, via graphics in an interesting reverse flow from the consumer in Japan to the Seshachalam forest from where it is smuggled via Chennai & China. Pushpa’s introduction as a coolie in the gang is rustic and seemingly authentic. Pushpa’s character is well established through the first half as a realistically greedy youth who aims to reach the next level of success with just his guts and foresight. The rustic Chittor Forest village set up, people and dialect are done effectively. For most part director Sukumar maintained the subtle narration without over-the-top heroism. However, it borders the line of a flat narrative. The lack of a proper villain does not help the movie either. Ajay Ghosh, Suneel and Rao Ramesh played villains and honestly there isn’t much conflict here to generate rugged action scenes of any sort. Heroine Raskmika’s characterization as a routine village girl in a deglamorized role has nothing to talk about.
Given the smuggling background and hype built around the extravagant budget, any audience expecting action episode will be surely disappointed. The red sandalwood syndicate has Suneel as its lead – a poor casting choice, the Reddy brothers – nothing to offer in terms of villainy. Samantha’s item song is a commercial add on.
Songs Dakko Dakko Meka, Chupe Bangaramaayene , Oo Antava songs are in first half, superhit audio Saamy song is into second half.
Second half shows Pushpa try to win his lady love, his humiliation around the circumstances of his birth, minister’s attempt to deescalate the rift within the smuggling syndicate. As expected, Pushpa becomes the smuggling syndicate kingpin. When all seems well for Pushpa both professionally and romantically, Sukumar introduces Shekawat (Fahaad Faazil) as a new police office and gives the audience 30 minutes of filler scenes ending with Pushpa preaching to Shekawat.
Sukumar’s mark direction is a clear miss, with exception to adhering to the rustic backdrop. Cinematography is good enough, but the major disappointment is DSP’s background score and the very bad sound design. Perhaps audiography team did not have time to complete the rerecording work. Most of the film appears to have leveraged Spot Dubbing technique. Visual effects are not up to the mark either.
Allu Arjun as Pushpa has put in his best efforts and acted superb. His body language, performance, and diction (complete Chittor dialect) are excellent. He will be appreciated by one and all and is the only saving grace in the movie. His friend keshava role is good as well. Rest of the cast has nothing much to get appreciation.
Positives :
• Allu Arjun’s fantastic performance
• Two Songs ( Saamy , Oo Antava )
• Authentic rustic, rural setup
Negatives :
• Slow narration in the first half
• Horrible technical values mainly audiography , Visual Effects
• Poor casting of villains and lack of strong conflict points
• Missing Sukumar’s magic
• Unnecessary dragging scenes of 2nd half including the climax
Verdict :
‘Pushpa’ doesn’t live up to the expectations. The story of a Sandalwood smuggler who grows from a ‘Coolie’ to ‘Syndicate Boss’ has been narrated in a flat manner. Allu Arjun characterization, dialogues stand out. Second half is a BIG letdown and audience may keep wondering what the purpose of the last 30 minutes and the climax episode was. As you walk out, you can’t help but think if part 2 will ever be made.
Telugu360 Rating : 2.75/5
Director Sukumar’s absence at ‘Pushpa’ promotions irks fans
‘Pushpa: The Rise’ is slated for a grand release on Friday but the absence of director Sukumar at the pre-release event has not gone down well with fans.
Team ‘Pushpa’ has left no stone unturned on the promotions, from releasing every single song in all the languages to interacting with the media, the team has been working around the clock for promotions.
Being Sukumar’s directorial, it was expected that the filmmaker would appear in the promotional events as well. But, Sukumar is engrossed in finishing the film’s post-production work and so he skipped the promotions, which has upset the fans.
Analysts believe that the director’s word about the movie plays an important role during the promotions, which did not happen for ‘Pushpa’.
One of the online fans of Sukumar wrote, “If a star director like Sukumar has to stay away from the promotions to bring better output, the industry should think about the time being given to them to prepare the film’s final output. Is this fair?”
‘Pushpa’ stars Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Fassil, Sunil, Anasuya Bharadwaj, and others in important roles. Samantha Ruth Prabhu is to appear in an item song as well.
One more speed breaker for Allu Arjun’s Pushpa
Stylish Star Allu Arjun is quite keen to release his upcoming movie Pushpa on December 17th. Sukumar is the director and Rashmika Mandanna is the leading lady. The entire movie unit is working round the clock to complete the project and release it as per the plan. Sukumar hasn’t taken rest from the past few weeks and he is ill now. The talented director is now on a break and the post-production works came to a halt. This turned out to be an unexpected speed breaker for Pushpa.
Sukumar is expected to return back to work very soon. The last song and the item number on Allu Arjun and Samantha will be shot from tomorrow. Sukumar will not be present for the first two days of the shoot for the item song. He will watch the rough cut and may suggest changes if needed. For now, the entire team of Pushpa is working to complete the work on time. The promotional activities will kick-start early next month. Pushpa is a pan-Indian film that is bankrolled by Mythri Movie Makers.
Sukumar skips the songs shoot of Pushpa
Stylish Star Allu Arjun and Sukumar are teaming up for the third time and the film is Pushpa. It is aimed for release on December 17th in all the Indian languages. Two songs from the movie are yet to be canned and the shoot is progressing in Hyderabad. Sukumar is focused on the post-production work and he skipped the songs shoot. His team is canning the songs under the supervision of the choreographers. With the dubbing happening in multiple languages and the editing work happening in Hyderabad, Sukumar is completely focused on the post-production work.
He is working with four editors currently and the final cut is getting ready. The entire shoot of Pushpa is expected to be completed by the end of this month including the patchwork. The makers are also promoting Pushpa aggressively for now and the songs are getting released. Allu Arjun has plans to promote the film in Tamil soon. Rashmika Mandanna is the heroine and Mythri Movie Makers are the producers. Pushpa is carrying huge expectations.
Director Sukumar to rope in Vijay Deverakonda in place of Allu Arjun for ‘Arya 3’
Leading Telugu director Sukumar, who is currently busy with Allu Arjun and Rashmika Mandanna’s upcoming movie ‘Pushpa’, is all set to bring in Vijay Deverakonda in place of Allu Arjun for his next movie.
As per latest reports, Sukumar is gearing up for his next movie as soon as ‘Pushpa’ gets a wrap.
Soon after that, Sukumar is to kickstart the pre-production work of his upcoming movie, which is touted to be the sequel to Sukumar’s most-hyped anthology – ‘Arya’ and ‘Arya 2’. The new movie is to be titled ‘Arya 3’.
Both ‘Arya’ and ‘Arya 2’ had Telugu’s ‘icon star’ Allu Arjun as the hero. So, as soon as the reports about ‘Arya 3’ came out, everyone expected it to be an Allu Arjun starrer. But, it seems like Sukumar is keen to rope in ‘Arjun Reddy’ actor Vijay Deverakonda as the hero in ‘Arya 3’.
Sukumar has already announced his next film with Vijay Deverakonda, which is to be bankrolled under the banner Falcon Creations. As reports are rife that Vijay Deverakonda and Sukumar are expected to join hands for ‘Arya 3’ too, though an official confirmation is yet to be made.
Allu Arjun and Sukumar who delivered the two greatest hits in Telugu – ‘Arya’ and ‘Arya 2’, have come together for their third film ‘Pushpa’.
‘Pushpa’, being a pan-India film, has a huge hype around its release, which is scheduled for December 17.
On the other hand, Vijay Deverakonda is all set for his upcoming movie ‘Liger’ to hit the screens soon. Ananya Panday acts as Vijay’s female lead in this Puri Jagannadh directorial.
Sukumar is down with Viral Fever
Top director Sukumar resumed the shoot of Allu Arjun’s upcoming movie Pushpa and the shoot came to a halt after Sukumar was unwell. The director is suffering from viral fever and is taking rest. Sukumar is away from antibiotics and other English medicines. He has been following homeopathy for the past few years and he is taking the same medication now. Allu Arjun wanted to resume the shoot once Sukumar recovers completely. The makers planned to complete the entire shoot of the first installment of Pushpa by the end of July.
But Sukumar’s health brought an unexpected break for the shoot. The first part of Pushpa is expected to release during the end of this year and an official announcement about the same will be made soon. Allu Arjun is keen to complete the shoot of Pushpa 1 and commence the shoot of Icon in the direction of Sriram Venu. Sukumar will have to start the shoot of Pushpa 2 after Allu Arjun completes the shoot of Icon.
Real Facts about Sukumar and Vijay Devarakonda project
From the past couple of days, some of the gossip portals published the news about Sukumar will commence the shoot of Vijay Devarakonda’s project after he is done with the work of the first installment of Pushpa. Allu Arjun will take up Icon after he completes the shoot of the first part of Pushpa. Sukumar wanted ample time for the post-production work and he needs to work on the script of the second installment because of which Bunny decided to complete the shoot of Icon in this while.
The schedules of Icon are planned and Bunny will be back to the sets of Pushpa 2 once Sukumar is ready with the script. Vijay Devarakonda and Sukumar project will not happen anytime soon as Vijay needs to complete the shoot of Liger. He has Shiva Nirvana’s film on cards which will be produced by Mythri Movie Makers. Shiva Nirvana is done with the script and he is waiting for the arrival of Vijay. Vijay will complete these two films before taking up Sukumar’s film. Hence, Vijay Devarakonda and Sukumar project will not happen anytime soon. Sukumar is completely focused on Pushpa as there is a huge stake involved. The film will also mark the pan-Indian debut of Allu Arjun and Sukumar.
Sukumar takes responsibility of his Protege
Sukumar is known to introduce his associates and some of them turned successful. Sukumar personally takes care of the script and he will make the changes to the final copy on the editing table. Sukumar was the one who personally monitored Uppena and the film marked the debut of his protege Buchi Babu. The film ended up as a super hit and Buchi Babu even impressed NTR with a script soon after the release of Uppena. But the project will not happen anytime soon as NTR is occupied with back-to-back films. Buchi Babu is left confused and he approached Sukumar about his next.
Sukumar is said to have arranged a meeting between Allu Arjun and Buchi Babu recently. Allu Arjun too has to complete both the installments of Pushpa and he has Icon getting ready. Sukumar and Bunny are keen to set one more hero for Buchi Babu instead of making him wait for a long time. Sukumar took responsibility for the second film of Buchi Babu. Mythri Movie Makers are the producers and the film will be announced soon once the lead actor gets finalized.
Tollywood taking up Sukumar’s path
Top director Sukumar surprised everyone by choosing his path as a producer and writer when he is directing films with stars. Sukumar produced films like Kumari 21F, Darsakudu, Uppena and 18 Pages, Sai Tej’s next are under production. Several Tollywood celebrities and filmmakers are surprised with the consistency and balance of Sukumar. The top director supervises the script, involves in the production and suggests changes for the final cut and edits the films that he produces. Sukumar also pens the screenplay for these films.
Sukumar also introduced some of his talented associates as directors. Some of the Tollywood directors are focused on producing films and are following Sukumar’s path. Koratala Siva already floated his own banner and he paid advances for young directors who made impressive Tollywood debut. Some other young directors are now following the same strategy and are penning scripts for small films. They would supervise these projects and would enjoy the profits from the movies. Top producer Dil Raju is implementing such a strategy and is in talks with the directors from his camp for such projects.
With the lockdown all over, Tollywood directors are working on multiple scripts. We can expect an interesting bunch of projects from successful directors producing them in the next couple of years in Telugu cinema.
Sukumar to take a long break for Pushpa 2
Top director Sukumar is carving out Pushpa and the film features Allu Arjun in the lead role. The top director had changes in plans and he decided to release the film in two installments. Allu Arjun allocated 20 more days for the first installment and the pending shoot will be completed by the end of July or August after the shoot commences. Sukumar will head for the post-production work of the film and they have plans of releasing the film this year.
Sukumar wants Allu Arjun to complete one more project before he resumes the shoot of Pushpa 2. Sukumar will work on the script of the second installment soon after the release of the first part of Pushpa. The shoot of the second part will commence only after summer next year. Sukumar wants 100 more working days to complete the second part of Pushpa. Allu Arjun is keen to take up one more film after he is done with the shoot of the current installment.
Sukumar’s new plan for Pushpa
It is almost official that Allu Arjun’s upcoming movie Pushpa will be released in two parts. Sukumar is the director and he is currently utilizing the pandemic break to rework on the script. He felt that it is impossible to narrate the script in a single part. The biggest challenge here is that Sukumar wanted 30 minutes more to complete both the portions of the film considering the runtime. One more item number was added in the second installment recently. Sukumar is currently penning the episodes to add 30 minutes of content in both the parts of Pushpa.
There would be no chance to add new actors in the second part and Sukumar needs to go with new episodes using the same actors. The work is currently going on and Sukumar will narrate it to Allu Arjun once he is done. The shoot resumes once the second wave of coronavirus calms down. The first part of Pushpa releases this year and the second part will have its release next year. Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahad Fazil, Sunil, Anasuya will be seen in the lead roles in this action entertainer. Mythri Movie Makers are the producers.
Confirmed: Pushpa to release in Two Parts
Telugu360 was the first to break the news that Allu Arjun’s upcoming movie Pushpa will be made in two parts. The film’s director Sukumar and Bunny had long discussions about the move as that was not the plan initially. The team worked on the factors and informed the same to Allu Arjun. The young actor asked Sukumar to go ahead. Almost half of the film is now completed and the pending portions will be completed in two more weeks after the shoot resumes.
Sukumar is currently busy locking the rough cut and is finalizing the content. The first installment of Pushpa will have its theatrical release this year. The makers are considering a Dasara or a December release for the first installment for now depending on the coronavirus situations. Allu Arjun will allocate bulk dates for the second part and will release it during the second half of 2022. Pushpa features Rashmika Mandanna, Sunil and Fahad Fazal in other important roles. Mythri Movie Makers are producing this big-budget project on red sandalwood smuggling.
Sukumar and Vijay Devarakonda project is very much on
Top director Sukumar is busy carving Pushpa with Allu Arjun in the lead role. Before even commencing the shoot of Pushpa, Sukumar announced that he would work with young actor Vijay Devarakonda in his next. Falcon Creations are on the board as the producers. There are speculations that Ram Charan replaced Vijay Devarakonda in this project and to put an end to the speculations, the makers of the film issued a clarification.
The statement said that the project is on and it will start as per the plan and the announced combination. The makers asked everyone not to believe in the misinformation that is spread by some sections. The project will roll as per the plan once Sukumar and Vijay Devarakonda are done with their current commitments. Vijay Devarakonda is working with Puri Jagannadh for Liger and the film is announced for September 9th release across the globe. Sukumar’ Pushpa will hit the screens in December this year.
Hit Combo to Repeat Again!
Ram Charan on his birthday is treating his fans with a lot of updates! Yesterday, the fierce Ramaraju poster from RRR has released and gained the love of everyone and today, the poster of Chiru and Ram Charan in ‘comrade’ look from Acharya was released and got appreciations!
Also, the announcement regarding RC15 is also made. Shankar, Dil Raju, and Ram Charan are joining their hands for RC15. That is not all! Here’s another update that has been revealed in Charan’s birthday event.
Producer Naveen Yerneni said that they are expecting another film from Rangasthalam Combo (Ram Charan and Sukumar) next year! It made people understand that the makers are planning to make another film with this hit combo! Let’s see if we can get even more updates before the day ends!
Sukumar intends to remake Jagadam again
Top director Sukumar is completely focused on Allu Arjun’s Pushpa that will release in August. Sukumar worked with Ram for the film Jagadam and the movie completed 17 years. On this occasion, Sukumar shared his thoughts about the memorable experience though Jagadam ended up as a flop. Sukumar revealed that he is very interested to work with Ram again. “I intend to remake Jagadam again with Ram. I wish to see him in Jagadam again” told Sukumar.
Sukumar felt that the film did not get the right appreciation. He even said that the film suffered several cuts before the censor board. He lauded the technicians Rathnavelu, Devi Sri Prasad and Sreekar Prasad for their work. Speaking about Ram, Sukumar said, “He is full of energy. He never said no to any sequence or act. He is a quick learner and energetic on the sets. Ram’s first movie Devadas released about seven days ago and I met Sravanthi Ravikishore and narrated the script. I got an immediate nod and started Jagadam soon”.
Sukumar announces one more project
After the super success of Rangasthalam, Sukumar is directing Pushpa featuring Allu Arjun. He is simultaneously working on several scripts and is producing films on Sukumar Writings. Sukumar is currently producing Nikhil’s 18 Pages and has Sai Dharam Tej’s mystical thriller. Sukumar today announced that he will produce young actor Karthikeya’s next. Sukumar will pen the story, screenplay and dialogues for this film.
The details about the director and technicians will be announced at a later date. Karthikeya completed the shoot of Chavukaburu Challaga and the film releases next Friday.
Sukumar earns big through Uppena
Top director Sukumar supervised a small film Uppena that is directed by his protege Buchi Babu. Sukumar co-produced the film along with Mythri Movie Makers and kept a special focus on the project. The entire money was pooled by Mythri Movie Makers and Sukumar will enjoy half of the profits for supervising the entire project. Uppena is a smashing hit at the box-office and the film will collect Rs 50 crores in the final run in theatres. The non-theatrical rights of the film too fetched good deals for the makers.
The makers are expected to earn Rs 40 crores profits through the film and Sukumar will earn Rs 20 crores from the profits. This is almost equal to the remuneration Sukumar takes for a film. Uppena left everyone in huge profits. The makers also paid good amounts for Vaisshnav Tej, Krithi Shetty, Buchi Babu after the film ended up as a super hit.
