'Pushpa: The Rule - Part 2: Review: Sukumar's smartness and Allu Arjun's stellar performance couldn't save this flawed film.

Sukumar has always been a director, who had managed to carve a niche for himself in Telugu commercial cinema by presenting flawed and vulnerable protagonists and complex screenplays. His ability to crack this within commercial boundaries catering to the star made him a special filmmaker. The left-out trope of his flawed protagonist was a 'rags to riches' anti-hero and that's Pushpa.

Pushpa 2 starts from where its first part got over, from the ego clash between Pushparaj and Bhanwar Singh played by Allu Arjun and Fahadh Faasil respectively.

Pushpa, albeit treading along a familiar path gave us one moment after another, that showed his street-smart nature with tricks up his sleeve for every obstacle. His journey of climbing the ladder up in the red sandalwood syndicate made for a nice commercial biggie and Pushpa did that. By now, Pushpa 2 revels in the magnanimous rise of Pushpa and his ego-tussle with this hot headed police officer, hell-bent on revenge for his humiliation.

Like every other big anti-hero, we have a reason to root for him amidst his big crimes and Pushpa takes the familiar yet powerful line of mother sentiment. Pushpa is always reminded of his 'inti peru', his family name and that enrages him to rise to the top to prove his worthiness. When a universally familiar trope hasn't lost its power, it is bound to click and Pushpa has that advantage. 

Pushpa 2 has tremendous production value, the film feels really big, also by length. The film is accentuated by some really well made mass moments, both unique as well as entertaining. The pre-interval portions followed by a smuggling sequence and another banter portion make for some superbly written scenes. The much talked Jathara sequence feels really fresh with Pushpa dancing ritually with a saree, something we don't get to see in star vehicles. Pushpa is shown to have some feminine qualities in this film, which adds a sense of genuinely interesting character development.

Pushpa, with all his cocky nature and unprecedented swagger, is brought down to being vulnerable by insulting his background, often about his father. The way with which Pushpa treats his wife, Srivalli played by Rashmika is reflective of what his mother said to him, 'The choice of choosing love more than respect'. Srivalli is treated like a queen by Pushpa and this development from a very badly sounding romantic track in the first part is a good move. Pushpa 2 is peppered by some superbly thought sequences that triggers the lead man, ending up flexing his power. A subplot about a photo that ends up being the trigger point for Pushpa, a play with the redwood, a scene playing with the idea of telling sorry are all those scenes that showcase Sukumar's knack of interesting high moment woven screenplay. 

With all these working, the biggest flaw of Pushpa 2 is its runtime. With 200 mins, one expects the film to dwelve into many events and build a very satisfying epic and that is exactly where Pushpa lacks. The film feels really messy and pointless at times. Scenes get played out more than welcome, and after a point, the narrative feels like really they have no more ideas or fuel to run. The idea to treat Pushpa 2 as an emotional tale for this world conquering hero is a brave idea but it is introduced at irregular intervals with little to no impact. The film is imbalanced between Pushpa's conflicts with the enemy and his conflicts with family, that dealing with both internal and external conflicts is never done to the maximum. Whenever we feel a rise in the ego conflict, the film shifts to family. Fahadh's character really tests the goodwill of the actor and barring few moments, we are left with repetitive scenes and a weak antagonist losing it to Pushpa.

After a point, the film springs in the most used tropes of saving a family member, and the film becomes extremely pointless and long from that point. The ending is quite nice for a bigger star vehicle about an anti-hero but we have no strong emotional scenes to register this. The first half is built with drama instead of set pieces but we really feel, the film really stretches out. Pushpa 2 should have had the writing it's midpoint had. The quirky yet massy nature was what Pushpa needed and Pushpa 2 really does well with these sequences. The very well written and executed scenes are far and few in this overlong film. Sukumar's conviction makes many sequences believable and entertaining only to a point and his conflict building techniques account for some hilarious yet rousing moments. But there is always a constant sense that the film is unnecessarily stretched out on unimportant sequences and when the narrative runs out of fuel, everything crashes down.

The dependence on the hero saving the damsel in distress is still being used and it feels worse at some point. Sukumar uses both innovative as well as dated and stale sequences to power the narrative and this is the very issue of this film. Still, the film runs on insane energy that prevents this from being a bore. The narrative addresses and rectifies the shortcomings of the prequel but makes up for more flaws in the sequel.

Pushpa 2 is bolstered by Allu Arjun and smart trademark sequences of Sukumar, but the overlong narrative and pointless scenes one after the other dampen the film to many extent. The film's visible confusion at handling the conflicts leaves a lot to be desired.