Pushpa 2: The Rule
Pushpa 2: The Rule is a 2024 Indian Telugu-language action drama film written and directed by Sukumar and produced by Mythri Movie Makers in association with Sukumar Writings. A sequel to Pushpa: The Rise, it is the second installment in the Pushpa film series. The film stars Allu Arjun in the titular role, alongside Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil, Jagapathi Babu, Sunil and Rao Ramesh. It follows Pushpa Raj, a labourer-turned-red sandalwood smuggler, as he faces growing threats from his enemies, including SP Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat.
The sequel was officially announced in December 2021, shortly before the release of the first film, with the title Pushpa 2 and later rebranded as Pushpa 2: The Rule with the release of the first film. Although a portion of the film was initially shot back-to-back with the first film, director Sukumar revised the storyline, leading to principal photography beginning in October 2022. The film features music composed by Devi Sri Prasad, cinematography by Mirosław Kuba Brożek, and editing by Naveen Nooli. Made on a budget of 400–500 crore, it is among the most expensive Indian films ever produced. With a runtime of 200–224 minutes, it is also one of the longest Indian films.
Pushpa 2: The Rule was released worldwide on 5 December 2024 in standard, IMAX, 4DX, D-Box and PVR ICE formats to positive reviews from critics with praise towards performances and cinematography and action sequences and criticism for its screenplay and runtime. The film emerged a major commercial success, grossing between crore worldwide, making it the second highest-grossing film in India and the third-highest-grossing Indian film worldwide.
Plot
A consignment of red sandalwood arrives at the Yokohama port in Japan, where workers are shocked to find Pushpa hidden inside one of the containers. He attacks them, demanding payment for the load but is shot and falls into the sea, triggering a flashback.After humiliating SP Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat IPS, Pushpa rises to power as a respected smuggler, while Shekhawat goes into hiding. Shekhawat secretly masquerades as a laborer and intercepts a massive sandalwood consignment. Meanwhile, Pushpa meets the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh Narasimha Reddy, but is denied a photograph with him to avoid political backlash. Offended, Pushpa vows to topple the government by making Siddappa the Chief Minister, raising ₹500 crores through sandalwood smuggling.
Pushpa strikes a deal with Central Minister Kogatam Veera Pratap Reddy and meets international buyer Hameed in Maldives to sell 2,000 tons of sandalwood for ₹5,000 crores. Several smugglers join Pushpa's syndicate, but Mangalam Srinu and Dakshayani, along with Shekhawat, plot to sabotage the operation. Shekhawat kills one of the syndicate members, causing fear among the others, who urge Pushpa to relinquish his leadership to Srinu. Siddappa later, tries to finish the rivalry between Pushpa and Shekhawat and asks Pushpa to say sorry to Shekhawat at a meeting. However, Pushpa again brutally disrespects Shekhawat for being a corrupted cop, later Shekhawat swears to catch all the consignment of red sandalwood.
Pushpa, however, manages to use his tricks and ways to smuggle the sandalwood to Chennai until its final destination in Sri Lanka. During the transport, Shekhawat catches up and shoots down all the trucks, forcing the drivers to escape. The media lauds Shekhawat for the raid, but Srinu realizes the load was not sandalwood but Sandra, a wood that resembles red sandalwood but holds no market value. Pushpa had instead created bullock carts with the actual load and transported it to Chennai, indirectly aided by Shekhawat himself. Shekhawat asks Srinu to get 1 tonne of original red sandalwood to fool the Examination committee and works on to trace Pushpa's original consignment. In the news, it is shown that the consignment caught was real sandalwood, causing fear amongst the syndicate members. Later, they hold a meeting where everyone questions Pushpa about the whereabouts of the original consignment. Pushpa ensures that it is safe and tells the location of the load only to Jakka Reddy.
Meanwhile, Srivalli discovers she is pregnant, and Pushpa celebrates. However, tragedy strikes when his niece, Kaveri, is assaulted during the Jathara festival by Bugga Reddy and his gang. Pushpa beats them up, humiliates them, and sents them back. Shekhawat eventually obtains permission and manages to track the consignment to Rameswaram as he had spied on Jakka Reddy but fails to capture it before it crosses the Indian-Sri Lankan border. However, Hameed's gang is caught by the police and while fleeing, Hameed's car rolls over, in which Jakka Reddy is killed and Hameed is gravely injured. Shekhawat gets to know from him that the sandalwood was going to Japan and Pushpa was going to get the money through hawala. Hameed was the only one who knew the name of the Japanese broker, who would ensure the money would be delivered to Pushpa, but before telling him the name of the broker, he is killed by Shekhawat.
Shekhawat then eventually breaks the connection between Pushpa, the original consignment, and Japan. To obtain the money for the consignment, Pushpa prepares to travel to Japan by stowing away in a ship container, whereupon reaching the Yokohama Port, he fights the yakuza, bringing the story back to the beginning of the film. As Pushpa is shot and falls in the sea, he emerges back, and proves to the Japanese boss, Hiroshi, that he is the owner of the sandalwood consignment. Eventually, Hiroshi delivers the money to Pushpa and asks him to deal with him directly in the future, thus removing all the brokers and enhancing the partnership between India and Japan. Pushpa uses the money to make Siddappa the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, as promised. He then goes to Jaali Reddy's house to mourn the death of Jakka Reddy. Pushpa tries to negotiate with Jaali, however, the latter ignores him and continues their rivalry. Shekhawat becomes furious as he was going to get exposed for catching fake sandalwood and while burning the storage site, he seemingly kills himself in the blaze.
As Pushpa, Siddappa, and his gang celebrate, tragedy strikes again as Kaveri is kidnapped and assaulted by Bugga Reddy, who wanted revenge for his humiliation at the Jathara festival. Later, it is revealed that Bugga Reddy is the nephew of Minister Veera Pratap Reddy, who tries to negotiate with Pushpa to leave Bugga alone. However, a furious Pushpa manages to rescue Kaveri and brutally kills Bugga and his gang, along with Subba Reddy, Bugga's father and Pratap Reddy's younger brother. At their funeral, Pratap Reddy along with Srinu, Dakshayani, Jaali Reddy, Murugan, and the others swear revenge against Pushpa. Pratap Reddy then asks about an important mysterious person as he was not present at the funeral.
Pushpa's elder brother, Mohan, later apologises to Pushpa and his family for all the mistreatment he caused and invites them to Kaveri's wedding, accepting them wholly as his family. As Pushpa reconciles with his estranged family at Kaveri's wedding, the mysterious figure detonates a bomb at the wedding.
Cast
Production
Development
Before the release of Pushpa: The Rise in 2021, the film was announced to release in two parts, with the filmmakers stating that the maiden part would release that year, whereas the latter part would release the next year. Initially, 10% of the sequel's footage was shot back-to-back with the first part, however, Sukumar decided to alter the sequel's story. The scripting part of the film was completed by July 2022 in Hyderabad. The official title, Pushpa 2: The Rule, was announced at the end of Pushpa: The Rise. An inaugural muhurat puja ceremony was held on the same day in Hyderabad with the presence of the film's cast and crew.Sukumar wrote the film's script while Srikanth Vissa wrote the dialogues. Sukumar further retained most of the technicians from previous part including cinematographer Miroslaw Kuba Brozek, editor Karthika Srinivas and Ruben, art director S. Ramakrishna and Monica Nigotre and sound designer Resul Pookutty and Vijay Kumar. Deepali Noor and Sheetal Sharma served as costume designers while Preetisheel Singh was hired as character designer. Peter Hein, Kecha Khamphakdee, Dragon Prakash and Nabakanta were hired as stunt directors. Dance choreographers of the film includes Prem Rakshith, Ganesh Acharya, Sekhar, Vijay Polaki and Shrashti Verma.
Casting
, Fahadh Faasil, Rashmika Mandanna, Dhananjaya, Rao Ramesh, Sunil, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Ajay Ghosh and other remaining actors from first part have reprised their respective roles, Jagapathi Babu was roped in for a pivotal role in April 2023. Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari rejoined the cast in February 2024, after he was given bail in suicide abetment case. Saurabh Sachdeva, Tarak Ponnappa, Satya and Adithya Menon were also reported to be the part of the film. Malaika Arora, Triptii Dimri, Janhvi Kapoor, Disha Patani and Shraddha Kapoor, were considered for the item number. However, Sreeleela was later finalised.Filming
began with a test shoot on 30 October 2022 in Hyderabad. In January 2023, filming took place in Visakhapatnam. In March 2023, scenes were shot in Bangalore. Rumours were circulated that the shooting of the film was stopped as director was unsatisfied but later turned out to be false as shooting was again started after a few days.In April 2023, forest scenes were shot in Malkangiri district of Odisha. Jagapathi Babu joined cast in April 2023. Fahadh Faasil joined the sets in May 2023 while Rashmika joined the sets in June 2023. On 3 June 2023, the bus carrying crew members met with an accident near the Vijayawada–Hyderabad Expressway. In July 2023, an action sequence was shot in Visakhapatnam Port including 50 stuntmen. In August 2023, scenes were shot in Ramoji Film City. In November 2023, the filming resumed in Hyderabad. In December 2023, the filming was postponed due to Allu Arjun's health.
In March 2024, scenes were shot in Vizag and Yaganti Temple. It was later reported that the makers spent 50–60 crore for the Gangamma Jatara performance and a fight sequence. In April 2024, an underwater sequence was shot in Hyderabad. In May 2024, it was reported that the film will have multiple endings and to maintain secrecy the makers opted the no phone policy on the film set. In July 2024, it was reported that shooting of film was delayed due to rift and creative differences between Allu Arjun and Sukumar, however they were later proven to be false rumours as shooting was restarted again in Hyderabad.
Sets depicting 1990s and 2000s Japan and Malaysia were recreated at Ramoji Film City, though plans were to shoot on location, recces at Bangkok, Malaysia, and Japan determined that budget and time constraints would not allow it. In August 2024, the climax of the film was shot. Item number featuring Sreeleela was filmed in November 2024 in Hyderabad. The entire filming was wrapped by late November 2024.