Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 (2021)

(Amazon Streaming, June 2022) It’s probably time for me to step away from mainstream Indian cinema for a few months, because it’s all starting to blur together. Despite completely different regional origins and production industries, a lot of the better-known Indian films lately have been hitting very similar plot beats: lone heroes against powerful crime lords, with films split in two parts and a somewhat similar execution to the material. I’m aware that the same charges can be brought against Hollywood, but my ears aren’t as attuned to the differences in Indian cinema yet – hence the benefits of a temporary pullback. Given this overdose, I only have mildly nice things to say about Pushpa: The Rise – Part 1 (and that’s assuming I can distinguish between it, Radhe, Master, KGF (Part 1) and others). I like the premise of basing an entire film on red sandalwood smuggling, which provides the excuse of playing around with big trucks as part of the action of the film. Writer-director Sukumar shows fluency in keeping the complex film moving forward (with the execution being better than the narrative foundation), even though the final result, at three hours, remains a masala film too long to be maximally effective. Allu Arjun is quite good as the titular coolie-turned-action-hero, showing decent physicality in action sequences. It’s regrettable that Pushpa Part One is better in its first half than its second – and that lack of balance is not improved by what feels like a near-endless running time. Still, for all of its visual polish and slick filmmaking, Pushpa feels incredibly similar to many, many Indian blockbusters of the past few years, and I’m looking for a change.