Pushpa: The Rise

Pushpa: The Rise follows Pushpa Raj, a labourer who works his way up through the illegal trade in red sandalwood. As he gains power in the smuggling network, he makes enemies among rivals and eventually draws the attention of a police officer determined to bring the operation down, leading to violent confrontations.

The film was directed by Sukumar, who also wrote the screenplay, and was produced by Y. Ravi Shankar and Naveen Yerneni under Mythri Movie Makers and Muttamsetty Media. It came roughly seven years after Sukumar's 1: Nenokkadine and precedes his sequel Pushpa 2 - The Rule. Allu Arjun plays the title role, with Fahadh Faasil as police officer Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, Rashmika Mandanna as Srivalli, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari as Kesava, Sunil Varma as Mangalam Srinu and Anasuya Bharadwaj as Dakshayani among the credited cast of 27. The production had a budget of about 29 million US dollars and took around 46 million US dollars worldwide.

On IMDb, the film holds a rating of 7.6 from around 100,000 votes, while on TMDB its rating stands at 6.8 from roughly 205 votes, a much smaller sample. Running 179 minutes, it was released in December 2021 as an action drama and thriller set in India.