Pushpa 2: The Rule director Sukumar rejected Allu Arjun’s “masculine” first-look posters for the film in the eleventh hour and came up with the idea of replacing them with photos of the actor dressed as a “woman” to shock fans, Allu said at a promotional event recently.

Allu, who is set to reprise his role as Pushpa Raj in the upcoming sequel, said that his character initially had a typical masculine look, with him wearing a safari suit and trousers for the poster.

“We shot that. We finished the photoshoot. It came out well. But Sukumar garu is feeling uneasy. He’s like, ‘Nahi. Yeh nahi.’ I said, what? We finished the entire photoshoot, we are gonna release the picture, and now you’re telling me that it’s not working?” Allu recalled.

“To his question, Sukumar said, ‘Yeah, I want to give a shocker…I want you to dress up like a lady’,” Allu told media persons during an interaction.

Allu said they needed to take three shots before getting the look as envisioned by Sukumar. “Then, I knew what my genius maverick Sukumar garu was looking at. That is purely his genius idea,” he added.

For the Jatharaa sequence in Pushpa 2 which features a sari-clad Allu Arjun fighting off goons, the actor spent two hours on makeup and said that it’s the “hardest sequence” he has shot in his entire life.

“I generally don't like to explain that I’ve worked 'this hard' or 'that hard', but I can only say one thing for sure…it is the hardest sequence I've ever shot in my entire life. It takes more than just hard work, effort, and patience. It takes beyond that. I can't put it in words. I don't like to explain because I don't want the magic to go away. I want people to experience it for the magic it is more than my hard work,” the 42-year-old actor said.

Apart from Allu, Pushpa 2: The Rule also stars Rashmika Mandanna and Fahadh Faasil in important roles. Written and directed by Sukumar, the film also features Dhanunjay, Rao Ramesh, Sunil, Anasuya Bharadwaj and Ajay Ghosh.

Produced by Mythri Movie Makers in association with Sukumar Writings, Pushpa 2: The Rule is set to hit theatres worldwide on December 5.

Pushpa 2 is a sequel to Sukumar’s 2021 film Pushpa: The Rise, which emerged as a pan-India box-office success.

Devi Sri Prasad has served as the film’s music composer, while Miroslaw Kuba Brozek has worked on the cinematography.