Pushpa: The Rise Turns 5 This December, and It Made Allu Arjun a National Award Winner

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Pushpa: The Rise reached cinemas on December 17, 2021, which means it turns five in about six weeks. I remember how uncertain the release felt, with cinemas still recovering from the pandemic, and how quickly the film turned into something people kept talking about, from the dialogues to the signature hand gesture.

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Sukumar directed it, and the story follows Pushpa Raj, a labourer in the Seshachalam hills of Andhra Pradesh who rises through the red sandalwood smuggling trade. Allu Arjun plays him with a slouch and a stubborn grin, Rashmika Mandanna plays Srivalli, and Fahadh Faasil enters near the end as a police officer called Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat. Devi Sri Prasad's songs, especially Srivalli and Oo Antava, were everywhere.

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What worked for me was how rough and local it felt. Pushpa is not a polished hero. He is a man who has been looked down on all his life and who refuses to bend, and the film plays his pride for both comedy and drama. The Hindi-dubbed version also did far better than people expected, which helped push the film into a wider conversation.

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The big moment came in August 2023, when Allu Arjun won the National Film Award for Best Actor for the film, the first time a Telugu actor had won that particular award. A sequel, Pushpa 2: The Rule, followed in December 2024 and became a huge hit.

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Did you prefer the first part or the second? I still think the first has the more focused story, even though the sequel has the bigger spectacle.