The Family Man actor Manoj Bajpayee may feature in Pushpa—The Rule, alongside Allu Arjun

Pushpa—The Rise, directed by Sukumar, became a blockbuster hit. While the audience is eagerly awaiting the second part of the Allu Arjun film, titled Pushpa—The Rule, we hear, that Manoj Bajpayee has been approached for a pivotal role, in the sequel. Reportedly, this role will be of a police officer. It remains to be seen whether the Family Man actor will come on board for this one, which will have its theatrical release in the second half of 2023. Multiple reports suggest that the script has been finished, and shooting will start in the third week of August 2022.

Rumours also suggest that Vijay Sethupathi is likely to play the antagonist in the second instalment, although nothing has been confirmed. Pushpa—The Rise concludes with Allu Arjun's character building a formidable smuggling network and clashing with the newly assigned police officer, played by Fahadh Faasil.

Notably, part one, which was released originally in Telugu, along with its dubbed version in Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil, has broken another milestone by becoming India's first album to reach five billion audio streams. The album contains five blockbuster songs including, Daakko Dakko Meka, Srivalli, Saami Saami, Eyy Bidda Idhi Naa Adda and Oo Antava, which crossed around 90 million views in Telugu and 73 million in Hindi.

Pushpa—The Rise dropped on Amazon Prime Video on January 7, 2022, following its theatrical release. Made on a budget of Rs 200 crore, Pushpa—The Rise earned more than Rs 360 crore at the box office.

Interestingly, Allu Arjun has demanded Rs 85 crore for the sequel, and he is one of the highest-paid actors in the Telugu film industry.

Manoj Bajpayee has previously spoken about how he’d stayed away from the digital space because of shows with an “overdose of sex and violence”; he wanted to wait for something unique.

In a recent interview, Fahadh stated that the universe of Pushpa has enough scope for a third edition in the franchise. Sukumar, according to the actor, has enough material for Pushpa 3 because he previously worked on a Netflix documentary about red sandalwood smuggling.