Credits

Banner: Mythri Movie Makers

Cast: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Fahadh Faasil, Rao Ramesh, Sunil, Dhananjay, Ajay Ghosh, Ajay, Jagadeesh Pratap, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Shatru, Brahmaji, Mime Gopi, Shammukh, Kalpalatha, Dayanand Reddy, Raj Tirandasu, Samantha (SA)

Music: Devi Sri Prasad

Cinematography: Mirosław Kuba Brożek

Editing: Karthik Srinivas

Dialogues: Srikanth Vissa

Sound Design: Rasool Pookutty

Production Design: Rama Krishna and Monika

Action: Ram Laxman & Peter Hains

Story - screenplay - Direction: Sukumar

Producers: Naveen Yerneni & Y Ravi Shankar

Release date: December 17th 2021

Interesting Facts

- “The story I narrated to Mahesh Babu was also based on red sander smuggling but that was a while ago. Once I came out of the project, I wrote a different story. I wanted the character attitude.

“And with Mahesh Babu, I couldn’t make him cool. He is very fair. So, the backdrop was the same but the story is different,

Due to him being busy with Indian 2 replacing Ravi Varma, Rathnavelu couldn’t adjust dates for Pushpa and they went ahead with Polish DOP Miroslaw Kuba Brozek who did Nani’s Gang leader
Editor Navil Nooli was replaced with Karthika Srinivas and Ruben after doing Nannaku Prematho and Rangasthalam while Rama Krishna and Mounika were retained as production designers

Jagadeesh was cast by Sukumar after he watched his performances in the films Mallesham (2019) and George Reddy (2019).[56] In an interview, Jagadeesh Prathap Bandari revealed that he had left 15 smaller projects for working in the film.

Lots of names at the time were in the news for the item song mainly Disha Patani, but then Samantha who criticized Sukumar’s poster in the past was finally recruited.

Sukumar said Samantha did hesitate to do the special song initially.

But I convinced her, saying that star actresses have been doing it. Pooja Hegde did one in 'Rangasthalam'. I convinced her that she would look great. She said 'no' again. I later called her and requested her to trust me and the title was Ooh Antava sung by Mangli’s sister Indravathi Chauhan and somehow become an nationwide sensation and Samantha’s performance was praised a lot.

To find the right location, they went to Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka literally every forest, finally they settled on Maredumilli till date nobody has covered a movie fully there.

Speaking in an interview

The film was shot on multiple sets at Sarathi, Ramoji Film City, Annapurna Studios, and Aluminium Factory. We erected a total of 29 sets in just two months and worked day and night to meet the deadline.

Due to the pandemic, even a forest set was created. A waterfall was created at a bungalow in Jubilee Hills. The scene was to be shot in Kerala but we shifted it here. Looking at the sets, even Allu Arjun couldn’t make out which is real and which one was fake.

Undoubtedly the forest set. Recreating a natural forest was the biggest challenge we faced. So much detailing has gone into the set work that it is highly impossible to make out the difference. Getting permission to put up the sets in the forest was also a daunting task.

Allu Arjun said that "We had about 400–500 cars in the forest that would take us from point A to B. In some places, there were no roads and we had to create a pathway with whatever was available.

Srivalli song was filmed in Tenkasi in Tamil Nadu temple on hill and then Ey Bidda Idi Na Adda" (transl. This is my area) song was filmed at the Mallikarjun Swami Temple of Beeramguda.

Finally movie released on December 17th in competition with Spider Man No Way Home and people rub it in but the movie was a flop in Andhra due to low ticket prices but surprisingly it was ahead of hit everywhere else which is completely unexpected. It was also the only star hero movie to release in 2021 as none of the other 5 heroes had a single release due to Covid.

Also listed as Rashmi Madona in the end credits. So much disrespect from the team.

Revisiting Pushpa: The Rise (2021) - Review + Interesting Facts