In the pantheon of contemporary Indian film protagonists, Pushpa stands tall. He starts out as a man on the margins — a daily wage laborer with a feminine name that means “flower” and a mountain-sized chip on his tilted shoulder. But Pushpa is so smart and so fearless that he soon ascends the ranks of a sandalwood smuggling operation to become head of the syndicate and godfather of the city of Chittoor. Pushpa 2: The Rule The Bottom Line Dazzling, thrilling and ultimately overwhelming. Release date: Thursday, Dec. 5Cast: Allu Arjun, Fahadh Faasil, Rashmika Mandanna, Dhanunjay, Rao Ramesh, Sunil, Anasuya Bharadwaj, Ajay GhoshDirector-screenwriter: Bandreddi Sukumar 3 hours 20 minutes However, power and money don’t fuel Pushpa. More than anything, he wants respect and legitimacy, which have been denied to him since childhood because his father never legally married his mother. Pushpa might seem as invincible as a Marvel superhero. But like Amitabh Bachchan in Deewar, who has “mera baap chor hai” (“my father is a thief”) tattooed on his arm, Pushpa is also permanently scarred. It’s a potent …