TL;DR: Pushpa 2 is 2/5 stars.

I’m not a film critic, but I do enjoy watching movies (a lot). I finally managed to go watch Pushpa 2 yesterday and I have some thoughts:

• What was the point of the opening sequence in the foreign land? I assumed there was a flashback and it would make sense at some point but obviously it didn’t, and it was completely unnecessary.
• The core thrilling aspect of the film was the cat and mouse game that started in prequel, but you cannot use such lazy writing for the tactical moves in the game. If one of the sides is grossly incompetent and the other side always finds a solution (using electron thick lines of logic), then it doesn’t make an interesting story. Is the best writing they came up with in 3 years time?
• You also cannot give one person superhuman strength for the action sequences in a non-superhero film. The action choreography was laughably bad, even by Indian standards. There was zero effort to make action sequences interesting (either plot-wise or direction).
• You cannot have the same protagonist go to extreme lengths to protect the honour of one lady (and overtly dramatised shots of the protagonist identifying as a feminist) while he’s openly drinking and grinding with 20 semi-clothed females in the item song. You have to think through your characters more thoroughly, and here-in lies the main problem with the script: Pushpa as a character is an asshole, but having the asshole as the hero breaks the cardinal rule of Indian cinema. Now, the writers are scrambling, how can we make this asshole character likable, and they’re throwing in any vague idea that works at this problem while destroying the integrity of the character objectively.
• This also leads to another problem – because the writers are focused so much on the hero, everyone else is a side character. Literally everyone else was wasted potential in the script (and talent).
• Unlike the prequel, the soundtrack failed to create a lasting impression as well. The item song didn’t take off in parties, there was no popular love song, no viral dance move. It’s not like they didn’t try, it’s pretty clear they tried to use the same formula, but it didn’t stick this time around.
• Pushpa falls victim to the latest trend of directors trying to “cook up” a blockbuster (like Rohit Shetty’s latest attempt with Singham Again). By the gross earnings metric, I’m sure the team feels they’ve done their job well. But, they failed to create a movie that is memorable and re-watchable (unlike the prequel).