Indian Star Allu Arjun Sets Franchise Plans for ‘Pushpa,' Says Part 2 Has a ‘Huge Canvas' (EXCLUSIVE)

Indian Star Allu Arjun Sets Franchise Plans for ‘Pushpa,’ Says Part 2 Has a ‘Huge Canvas’ (EXCLUSIVE)

Top Indian star Allu Arjun has revealed franchise expansion plans for his 2021 blockbuster film “Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1.”

Directed by Sukumar and produced by Mythri Movie Makers, the film traced the rise of Pushpa Raj (Arjun), a laborer who rises through the ranks of a red sandalwood smuggling syndicate and faces off against an egotistical police officer. The Telugu-language film was also dubbed into other Indian languages and went on to become India’s biggest box office hit of 2021. Arjun won best actor at India’s National Film Awards for the film.

The sequel, “Pushpa 2: The Rule” is in production and is due to be released this year. “You can definitely expect part three, we do want to make it a franchise and we have exciting ideas for the lineup,” Arjun told Variety. A sizzle reel from the Pushpa franchise is being screened on the sidelines of the Berlin Film Festival’s 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 – Part 1.”

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, just understand how film festivals are and what kind of films are watched and what is the mindset of the people that come there,” Arjun said.

After being a hit at home in India and in diaspora markets like the U.S., U.K. and the U.A.E., “Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1” found a new lease on 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 [between] the way the urban Indians have watched the film and the 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 Aug. 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 characterization. So you’ll see him on a very high note, you’ll see him on a very high scale, in terms of characterization, 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 characterization.”

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, emerges as a thorn in Pushpa’s side. The conflict between them is going to “escalate to a much bigger, bigger scale,” Arjun said.

Post “Pushpa 2,” Arjun hasn’t zeroed in on anything but says there are some interesting projects in the pipeline. “Those will definitely be on an epic scale. I don’t want to drop the ‘Pushpa’ scale at all – I want to hold that ground as much as possible,” Arjun said.

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