Pushpa The Rise: Part 1

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Film: Pushpa The Rise: Part 1

Director: Sukumar

Language: Telugu

Cast: Allu Arjun, Rashmika Mandanna, Dhananjay, Sunil, Fahaad Faasil

I had three reasons to watch Pushpa and multiple other reasons not to watch. Still braced it with open mind with the intention of not missing on good cinema.

'Pushpa The Rise' as name suggests is story of Pushparaj and his advancement from a coolie to a powerful smuggling syndicator of red Sanders, a rare wood that only grows in eastern ghats of southern Andra Pradesh. Two subplots, one his romantic liaisons with Srivalli and other his troubled humiliating relationship with his half brothers runs paralally.

Despite all the raves, hypes and marketing I found this film below average. Just old wine in a new bottle.  

Drishyam 2: Resumption

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Film: Drishyam 2: Resumption

Language: Malayalam

Director: Jeethu Joseph

Cast: Mohan Lal, Meena, Ansiba Hassan, Esther Anil

Streaming On: Amazon Prime

We watched Drishyam 1 (now since we have 2) in Kannada first and loved it. Since we know how Ponnappa family got away with the murder it never made any sense to watch it in other languages. So, obviously were quite excited about the second.

Six years after the incident George Kutti (it took a while to get used to) now owns a cinema theater. He is an aspiring writer and wants to produce movies. His elder daughter suffers from PTSD while younger one is her usual teenage rebellion self. These along with George Kutti's debts and alcoholism worries his wife Rani to no end.  She seeks comfort in the company of her neighbor, Saritha, a victim of domestic violence. And as expected their family entangles in criminal investigation yet again.

The first half of the film is really slow. The second half picks with twists after twists at a breakneck speed. For one twist the makers took inspiration from Keigo Higoshino's Devotion of Suspect X as they did in Drishyam 1. An alright film.