The film 'Pushpa 2: The Rule' released on December 5 is continuously breaking big records at the box office. While his previous film 'Pushpa: The Rise' collected Rs. 373 crores worldwide collection, its sequel 'Pushpa 2' became the 6th highest grossing Telugu film in just three days. It is being speculated that the film could become the highest grosser of Telugu and Hindi cinema. However, few people know that Mahesh Babu was the first choice of the makers to play the role of Pushpa before Allu Arjun. He also signed the film, but later turned it down.
Mahesh Babu signed 2 films with director Sukumar. Sukumar, the director of Pushpa, wrote it. In the year 2014, Mahesh Babu played the lead role in the film directed by him. When Sukumar finished the script for Pushpa, the first person he approached was Mahesh Babu. Mahesh Babu liked the script of the film and agreed to it.
Mahesh Babu with director Sukumar.
In the year 2018, Mahesh Babu was shooting for the film Maharshi (2019), after which he was going to start shooting for 'Pushpa'. In April 2018 announced another film SSMB26 with directors Sukumar and Mahesh Babu. The film was supposed to start shooting from January 2019, but before that Mahesh Babu quit both Sukumar's films citing creative differences and signed 'Sarileru Nikevaaru'.
After Mahesh Babu left the film, Sukumar offered the film to Allu Arjun. Before this, Allu Arjun worked in Sukumar's film 'Arya 2'.
The names of R. Madhavan and Vikram were discussed for the villain. Malayalam actor Fahad Fazil has played a negative role in 'Pushpa'. However, the role was first given to actor Jishu Sengupta. He also signed the film, however he turned down the film due to covid 19.
After Jishu Sengupta, Vijay Sethupathi was finalized for the film. It was also announced in January 2020, however, in July 2020, Vijay Sethupathi left the film due to his busy schedule. After this, Vikram, Bobby Simha, R. Actors like Madhavan and Arya were also considered, but eventually Fahad Fazil was finalized for the film.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
