South Indian actor Allu Arjun has spoken about hopes to expand his ‘Pushpa’ franchise, which was initially launched in 2021.
Arjun discussed the August release ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’, saying: “You can definitely expect part three; we do want to make it a franchise, and we have exciting ideas for the lineup.”
“A sizzle reel from the Pushpa franchise is being screened on the sidelines of the Berlin European Film Market in order to seed it as a brand for international audiences. There will also be a fan screening of ‘Pushpa: The Rise—PPart 1’, added the actor while talking to Variety.
Berlin will be Arjun’s first time in Germany and his first time at a film festival.
“I just want to see how people abroad are going to see this film and try to understand how they view Indian cinema. I just want to understand how film festivals are, what kind of films are watched, and what the mindset of the people that come there is,” Arjun said.
The film, directed by Sukumar, follows Pushpa Raj (Arjun), a labourer who rises through the ranks of a red sandalwood smuggling gang before facing off against an egotistical police officer.
After becoming a smash in India and other diaspora markets such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates, ‘Pushpa: The Rise—PPart 1’ gained new life when it began streaming on Prime Video.
“More than the theatrical reach of ‘Pushpa,’ the OTT (streaming) reach has been multifold,” Arjun said.
“A lot of people maybe during the theatrical release have only watched it once or twice. But after it’s available on OTT platforms like Amazon, people have watched it multiple times. And because of the OTT platform, there’s a lot of crossover audience from other languages, and other regions and neighboring countries. And also it made a noise because it was the biggest film (in India) of 2021.”
“I didn’t find much of a difference the way urban Indians have watched the film and people overseas. And I think urban Indians are similar to global audiences. So all the things that they have liked in terms of the candidness of the film or the performances, I’ve got similar feedback from urban audiences in India and overseas,” Arjun said.
‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’ is due to release August 15, during the Indian Independence Day holiday frame.
“‘Pushpa 2’ is going to have a very different shade of Pushpa than what you’ve seen in ‘Pushpa 1,’ because it is the lower end of the spectrum that you’ve seen,” Arjun said.
“You’ll see the highest end of the spectrum in terms of characterisation. So you’ll see him on a very high note, you’ll see him on a very high scale, in terms of characterisation, in terms of this scale and presentation and the canvas of the problems are going to be much bigger than what it was compared to ‘Pushpa 1.’ It’s going to be a bigger canvas, and there is a different dimension to the characterisation.”
Towards the end of the first part, the character Pushpa assumes de facto control of the syndicate.
“Till then it was playing on a regional scale, now it will play on a national and international scale,” Arjun said. In ‘Pushpa 1’, police officer Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, played by Fahadh Faasil, becomes a stumbling block for Pushpa.
The fight between them will “escalate to a much bigger, bigger scale,” Arjun said.
After ‘Pushpa 2’, Arjun hasn’t decided on anything, but he believes there are several interesting ideas in the works.
“Those will be epic in scope. I don’t want to lower the ‘Pushpa’ scale at all; I want to maintain it as much as possible,” Arjun stated.
