Pushpa: The Rise Part I

" Pushpa:  The Rise Part 1" (2021) may not be your cup of tea.  Violence, action- gore-lots of southern Indian music/dance (very aggressive).  It has an interesting story and characters and well presented..

This multi lingual blockbuster film is originally in Telegu but has been dubbed in four other languages (Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam) with English subtitles.  Special item numbers in each of the languages.   This is a very action oriented film with a fair amount of gore--guns play a role, but unreal physical fighting is more common and is spectacular.  Follows the basic format of many gangster movies where a disadvantaged person fights against tremendous odds and achieves respect and power.  The cinematography is spectacular.

Part of the tension is provided by smuggling high value sandalwood logs which involves misleading authorities or bribery.  I googled Red sandalwood and learned that is very rare and thus protected.  It is prized for its beauty and in Japan they have discovered using it for musical instruments it has a pleasant acoustical effect.  It is also used in dyes. 

The family and gang dynamics provide more tension.  Pushpa is an illegitimate son while two legitimate sons are wealthy and powerful in the smuggling business and don't want to include him. The brothers admit to knowing their father visited his mother, but claim their father might not have been the only visitor.  A photo in a locket with father and son has been taken away.  He is very supportive of his mother.  After proving himself clever and ruthless, Pushpa takes a fancy to a woman while a friend pays her to smile at him.  He is shy, but you know she will provide the romance. 

This blockbuster was very well done and I look forward to the sequel.  Here are a few of the contributors.

Sukuma is the director and writer.  He wrote" Rangasthalam 1985" (2018).

Music by Devi Sri Prasad who has also been a playback singer.    He has worked with Tamil and Telegu films and had his music used in different languages.  An award winner.

Miroslaw Brozek was the cinematographer got his start in Poland with other action films.  He did a Telegu movie, "Gang Leader" (2019).   It is easy to tell that the picture would look even more amazing on a large screen.

Allu Arjun played the casual and arrogant (but also shy) hero Pushpa.  He has been noted for his unique dance.  He started in the Telegu film trade and has built up a very strong following all over India.

Fahadh Faasil has a relatively small role, but a different look from his many other films.  He is on the other side of the law, but really a ruthless corrupt cop.  We first see him dealing with canabis smuggling, but in fact takes a huge bribe.  He is listed to have bigger role in part 2.  He got his first break because his father was big in the Malayalam film trade got him into starring roles at a young age, but when he flopped he kept away for films for nine years.   Then he began a career as a popular respected actor with such Maylayalam films as "Bangalore Days" (2014),  "Take Off" (2017),  "Thondi Muthalum Driksakshiyum" (2017)and "Nijan Prakashan" (2018).  Check  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/03/bangalore-days.html

Rashmika Mandanna plays the leading lady.  She started with a Kannada film and has also done Telegu.  

Part 2 to be released in India just before Christmas 2022 and likely accessible in U.S./Canada January 2023

While gathering material  for "Pushpa" I decided to start watching "Shyam Singha Roy" (2021) but felt compelled to watch the whole film straightaway.  It deserves a separate blog, but because I have already met my quota for the month and it is also a Telegu movie I am just adding a bit here.  It is different and very highly recommended by me.  You do have to accept the concept of reincarnation, but it is very poetically done.   I included a dance sequence that I found really good in a Facebook post just before finishing this post.  The story is very interesting starting with a young rising film director being charged with plagiarism.  The story then diverts to events a few decades before.  

 Produced by Venkat Boyanapalli. Directed by Rahul Sankrityan.  Written by Salyadev Janga.  Music provided by Mickey J. Meyer.  Cinematography by Sanu John Varughese.  Editing by Sanu John Varughese.  The principle actors were:  Nani, Sai Pallavi, Krithi Shetty, Madonna Sebastian, Murali Sharma, Jishu Sengupta, Rahul Ravindran and Leela Samson.

Both films reflect good films come in the Telegu language.

As usual I have bolded films I have seen.

Enjoyable Subtitled movies seen in 2021

Why should you waste your precious time on subtitled movies?  They require more attention and sharper vision, they don't have any of the stars you are used to and they are well, "foreign." The world is more interconnected and it is consequently ever more important to understand how others think and live.  Subtitled moves are only one tool, but easily accessible and a push in the right direction.   On top of all those reasons they really can be very enjoyable.  Creativity thrives globally.

 The photo to the left is of my most satisfying movie of the year.  It also had the highest rating on IMDB.  Appropriately it is on a human rights issue and how many try to bury them often requiring a super human effort to fix them.  Last year my top movie was also a Tamil movie, "Peranbu" (2018):  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2020/03/peranbu-top-film-out-of-india.html

A few trends that I have become conscious of.  Mini series are favored for streaming and their advantage is that they give opportunity for both character and plot development.  Their disadvantage is they can drag on a good idea to the point of monotony   Koreans seem to have mastered them.  I have also come to admire both Tamil and Malayalam film industries that deserve more international respect.  I still pick up DVDs at the library which offers an older selection and some which come with special features helping one to better appreciate the quality.

Denmark

Mads Mikkelsen and Sisse Graum Jorgensen have some history around  the Oscar with this being their latest triumph for 2020.  "Another Round" (2020) is about a group who for awhile believe getting mildly drunk each day helps them teach better.  However as you might imagine it is too easy to get carried away. http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/06/another-round-picks-up-oscar.html  Denmark acknowledges a problem with alcohol.
 

 

 

 

 

  Swedish

"My Life as a Dog" (1985) directed by internationally renown Lars Hallstrom.  Focused on a young boy who felt life had been unfair to him. 

"The Unlikely Murderer" (2021) One of the great mysteries-Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme killed .  Referred to in Stig Larrsson "Dragon" books.   In this film Stig Engstrom, real person is portrayed as a bitter man with a political agenda seeking attention.  The police investigation was sloppy at the beginning, but did develop in a major way.   Years later a journalist re examined evidence and concluded Stig was guilty.  The film series says the murder has not been proven, but both the media and the police believe Stig did it.

"The Caliphate" (2020)  gullible young girls from Sweden get involved with terrorists, while one who left for to live with ISIS want to escape back home.  

 

 

 

Norwegian

"Loverkvinnen" (2016 Lion Woman) was about a child born with hair growing all over her face and her ability to overcome prejudice and shocked first reactions.  The film uses 3 actresses to portray the woman at three different ages.  Another leading character was played by Rolf Lassgard who I have watched in three different languages, Norwegian, Danish ("After the Wedding") and Swedish ("A Man Called Ove).

"The Painter and the Thief" (2020) is a documentary telling the story of how a painter relates to the man who stole her painting (which was never recovered.  She became very supportive of the thief with addictions and even visited him in prison.

French

Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2020) was the headliner for AGH Film Festival, but I waited to see it on a DVD.   In the late 1700's, a female painter is hired to paint a picture on an isolated island of a woman about to be married to an aristocrat she has never met.

 

 

Spanish

"Money Heist" (2017-2021))  was another Netflix blockbuster.   My favorite series of the year.  Some things it has going for it:  really good twists, psychological understanding, enjoyable actors and good camera work.    http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/12/money-heist-best-heist-movie-ever.html 

"The Lighhouse of the Orcas" (2016) is based on a true story about a man helping an autistic boy with whales.  My most popular movie blogs:  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/03/the-lighthouse-of-orcas.html
Set in Argentina.

 

 

 

 

 "Live Twice, Love Once" (2019)  set in Valencia is one of a few with an Alzheimer theme.  Very well done.  Watch for a precocious child actress--the script was re-written for her.  http://www.therealjohndavidson.com/2021/08/live-twice-love-once-spanish-gem.html

ARJUN REDDY AND KABIR SINGH

Both "Arjun Reddy" and "Kabir Singh" have garnered a lot of attention, but seemed a bit scary for me.  Nonetheless the marketing seemed too much to ignore.  And it just happened that Netflix carried both of them.



First up for me was "Arjun Reddy, " the original and at times I wasn't sure I saw what I thought I saw.  The ultimate proof was that "Kabir Singh," the remake had many of the same things in pretty much the same sequence.  A number of the items must have been testing censor boards.

One scene had the protagonist scooping up ice cubes and putting them in his pants so that he appeared to have wet his pants.  Another scene depicts using an electric razor to cut off male pubic hair.  There seems to be a steady dose of drinking, smoking, cocaine and morphine.  Swearing (in multiple languages (English, Hindi, Telegu, Kannada, Tuli) were constant.

The hero in both films was egotistical, obsessive and had an explosive temper.  Not the typical hero.  From time to time this behavior contrasted with deep concern for patients and an acknowledgment of logic.  The heroinne in both cases was attractive, modest and somewhat resistant until the inevitable capitulation to the hero.  Their first encounter was mind boggling in that the hero (I am using this term loosely) interrupted a class, centered out the heroinne who he had no previous contact with demanded she move to the front, then selected an overweight girl to sit beside the heroinne saying such girls made the best friends and throughout this experience spoke in a language not known to the instructor basically telling the rest of the male students that she was his girl and they were not to interfere with this relationship.   Before too long they were living together despite college rules against such things.  She became very attached to him and vice versa.

It took awhile but her father who had met the hero rejected the idea forcefully and arranged an almost immediate marriage for his daughter.  The father was concerned about caste and the immoral behavior.  From there the movie follows the moral downfall of the hero into drugs and drinking.  At the same time he is so talented as a doctor that all is forgiven, or mostly forgiven.  That is, until he falls so far his medical licence is taken from him.  Although will tell anyone his love is undying is not against straight sex.  One dramatic scene is when a major movie star offering sex declared she loved him, but he very harshly rejected her as he was not looking for love.  After all this drama (and more not related) the movie has a happy ending.  In some ways it seemed like a big cheating, but its saving grace was the powerful homage to undying love.

Is it realistic?  Not in my reality, but by its dramatic thrust it makes for compelling viewing.

The common link between the two films is Sandeep Reddy Vanga who wrote and directed both.  To be allowed such artistic freedom and a big budget it was really surprising this was his first film as writer and lead director.  His background is in the Telegu film industry but he did study at the International Film School in Sydney, Australia.  He did work as an assistant and associate director  in two earlier films.  While filming "Arjun Reddy" his son was born and his name became Arjun Reddy.

The lead actor for both films is very critical as he has to be believable, but not go overboard with a very violent, but nuanced character.   Both versions found such an actor.

Vijay Deverakonda had done a few Telegu movies starting in 2011, many of them comedies and he was credited with being a natural.  He has been a playback singer in two subsequent movies.  His career seems to have taken off.

Shalini Pandey played the Telegu heroinne as her first film.  She has followed the path of many southern actresses and has gone on to do movies in Telegu, Tamil and Hindi.

Shahid Kapoor was given the Bollywood lead by the director after viewing Shahid in "Udta Punjab" but one of the financers had wanted someone else.  Shahid was a very good choice.  He had been in a lot of romantic comedies, including "Jab We Met," a master piece with ex girl friend Kareena Kapoor. In contrast to "Kabir Singh" he appeared in "Vivah" where he played a young man whose father arranged a wedding with the full blessing of both families and Shahid's character.  Shahid had established a reputation as perhaps the second best male dancer in Bollywood, but it wasn't enough to sustain his career and he played in a few duds.  In the last few years his acting was recognized more and more.  He was excellent playing the troubled Kabir Singh.

Kiara Advani played the heroinne.  She had established her reputation in "M.S. Dhoni:  The Untold Story."

Both versions of the story have been top financial successes.  There are plans for a Tamil version.