Pushpa 2 box office success: How Sukumar perfected the formu

Pushpa 2 box office success: How Sukumar perfected the formula to help Allu Arjun beat SS Rajamouli, Shah Rukh

Pushpa 2 box office success: How Sukumar perfected the formula to help Allu Arjun beat SS Rajamouli, Shah Rukh Pushpa 2: The Rule has become the third highest grossing Indian film in just 13 days.

This fight sequence is an extension of the big brand of cinema that Rajinikanth, Chiranjeevi, Salman Khan and Vijay have firmly established over the last few decades. Last year, Shah Rukh Khan also joined in the fun.

With Pushpa 2, Allu Arjun and Sukumar have taken it a notch higher. Pushpa 2, no matter how silly it is, is the culmination of a perfect mass formula made for sheer entertainment.

Pushpa 2 follows the Baahubali template to the hilt

Pushpa 2 follows a template for success that we saw earlier in Baahubali and KGF. The first film laid the groundwork with pan-India success, introducing the star to the world and Hindi audiences. Then, the second film broke the bank with all-time record collections.

The difference from Sukumar’s film was that unlike the other two, Pushpa: The Rise was not a blockbuster in its native territory. Hence, Pushpa 2‘s success was always dependent on how the Hindi version performs.

At the time of writing, Pushpa 2: The Rule has grossed ₹953 crore nett in India, of which ₹591 crore came from the Hindi version alone. The Hindi dub of Pushpa 2 has surpassed Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2 – which was a pan-India blockbuster – and Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathan.

It will soon surpass Jawaan as well and soon become the highest-grossing ‘Hindi’ film of all time. This is true pan-India success. To beat Bollywood’s biggest superstar and India’s most bankable filmmaker in the Hindi market is no small feat. To do all this in less than two weeks boggles the mind.

How Sukumar created the formula

Crowds of youngsters from the Hindi belt flocked to theatres to watch Pushpa. But the man behind the monitor – director Sukumar – also deserves praise. But that’s also stupid. Every year, dozens of filmmakers try this formula.

But as Adipurush, Vikrant Rona and Kanguva will tell you, most films fail despite having the biggest stars. Pushpa 2 succeeded because Sukumar ensured the formula was backed by the right elements – a story that would appeal to the target audience, characters that were colourful, and a hero they could relate to.

Rocky Bhai was aspirational, Baahubali was an icon, but Pushpa is one of a kind, and in her own right. And in getting Pushpa off the ground, Sukumar ensured the film would take off.

The promotions, which included a trailer launch in Patna, firmly established Pushpa 2’s aspirations to be a Hindi-belt film. In the first 13 days, Pushpa 2 earned more in UP and Bihar than in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, showing the success of this strategy. Unlike Baahubali or RRR, which were Telugu films that did well even in the North, Pushpa grew on the strength of its Hindi releases.

A calculated risk that paid off

The only blemish on Pushpa 2‘s impressive record is its poor collections in Kerala. The Malayalam version of the film has grossed just ₹14 crore, while the Tamil version grossed ₹50 crore.

Many are surprised by this, as Fahadh Faasil, one of today’s biggest Malayalam stars, is the villain there. But perhaps that’s the real reason. Many have said that Fahadh’s Shekhawat has been made a weak villain in the film, which might affect the performance in Kerala.

But to me, this is a deliberate move by the makers and Sukumar. This film is Pushpa 2, not Pushpa vs Shekhawat. It was never about a clash between equals like Master or Vikram. Here, the focus should always be on the unflappable, uncompromising avatar of ‘thuggee la’ i.e. Pushpa Raj.

If Sukumar’s script had elevated Shekhawat, it could have helped the film’s collections in Kerala to some extent. But it could also have resulted in Pushpa not looking as grand, and Sukumar knew that wouldn’t work for his film.

It’s one thing to conceive a pan-India blockbuster, but it’s another to pull it off. Sukumar managed it in such a way that his film is outperforming even SS Rajamouli’s work and Shah Rukh Khan’s stardom at the box office. As its second week comes to an end, Pushpa 2 is inching closer to the ₹1500 crore (insert mind blowing emoji here).

And people are already wondering the unthinkable – can it beat Baahubali 2 and Dangal? It may not, but the fact that it has raised this question shows the impact of Pushpa 2.