Ostracised from his paternal family, Pushpa grows up to be a labourer, working for the illegal traders of red sandalwood.
After his head-on confrontation with Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat in the first part, Pushpa rises to become the undisputed king of the sandalwood smuggling world.
However, challenges arise when Bhanwar Singh Shekhawat, Mangalam Seenu, and Pratap Reddy emerge as significant obstacles, threatening Pushpa both personally and professionally.
Shortly after the release of Pushpa 2: The Rule, Sukumar confirmed that he and Allu Arjun would return for a third film in the series in future.
[10][11] Post the success of Rangasthalam (2018), Sukumar narrated a script to Mahesh Babu, with whom he previously worked in 1: Nenokkadine (2014).
[13][b] The film was expected to begin in January 2019, but, in that March, Babu walked out of Sukumar's project citing creative differences, and he confirmed this through Twitter.
[14][15] The actor instead signed his next project with Anil Ravipudi titled as Sarileru Neekevvaru,[16][17] whereas Sukumar approached Allu Arjun for his next film, marking his reunion with the director after a decade since Arya 2 (2009);[18] Mythri Movie Makers which earlier associated with Babu and Sukumar's project also agreed to produce the venture.
"[20] Sukumar described the storyline as follows: "the red sanders heist in the hills of Andhra is a convoluted nexus that unfurls in the course of the narrative through a coolie-turned-smuggler.
[21] Sukumar explored the subject of red sandalwood smuggling when he read about such incidents in Andhra Pradesh years ago.
[22] He personally went for location scouting across Nallamala Hills as the film is set in Rayalaseema and Nellore and the plot revolves around red sanders smuggling.
[23] The film's title Pushpa was officially announced on 8 April 2020, on the occasion of Allu Arjun's birthday and a poster was also released.
[29][30] Allu Arjun played the titular character Pushpa Raj, a red-sanders smuggler, and sported a bearded look for his role in the film.
[31] Rashmika Mandanna was cast as the film's lead actress,[32] with an official announcement made on Allu Arjun's birthday (8 April 2019).
[34][35] Jisshu Sengupta was originally offered to play the antagonist but he refused due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and time constraints.
[36][37] Vijay Sethupathi entered talks to play the antagonist in October 2019, having worked with Sukumar in the director's production venture Uppena (2021),[38][39] and was confirmed to be part of the film in January 2020.
[58][59] For the second part, Jagapathi Babu was roped in for a pivotal role in April 2023[60] while Sreeleela was finalised for an item song.
[77] The team then moved to Rajahmundry in December 2020 to shoot key sequences, but that was postponed to January 2021, as twelve crew members working on the film were diagnosed with COVID-19.
[78][79] The shooting later resumed in January 2021 and the production house tweeted that two schedules at Rampachodavaram and Maredumilli were completed within February 2021.
[81] The shooting of the film was put on hold due to restrictions following the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India,[82] and Allu Arjun was also diagnosed with COVID-19 in late April.
[91] After a month-long production, on 4 October, the team started shooting face off scenes between Allu Arjun and Fahadh Faasil.
[94] Speaking to the media at a promotional event of Tamil version in Chennai, Allu Arjun said that "We had about 400–500 cars in the forest that would take us from point A to B.
[106] In July 2023, an action sequence was shot in Visakhapatnam Port along with 50 stuntmans, where Allu Arjun hanged upside down almost 100 feet above the ground using a crane.