Pokiri () is a 2006 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh. The film was produced by Jagannadh and Manjula Ghattamaneni by their respective production companies Vaishno Academy and Indira Productions. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Ileana D'Cruz, Prakash Raj, Nassar, Ashish Vidyarthi and Sayaji Shinde. In the film, a local goon whose killer instincts earns him not only his girlfriend's disapproval and a corrupt cop's enmity, but also the attention of a wanted crime boss.
The film was made on a budget of around 12 crore. principal photography commenced in November 2005 and lasted until April 2006. Most of the film was shot in and around Hyderabad and Chennai, except for a song which was shot at the province of Phuket in Thailand and the city of Bangkok. Shyam K. Naidu was the film's cinematographer, and it was edited by Marthand K. Venkatesh. The soundtrack and film score were composed by Mani Sharma.
Pokiri was released on 28 April 2006. The film grossed over 70 crore worldwide in its initial theatrical run and was declared an Industry Hit while remaining as the highest-grossing Telugu film for three years until it was surpassed by Magadheera in 2009. It also became the highest-grossing South Indian film in its original run, surpassing Chandramukhi, and became the first South Indian film to gross over ₹60 and ₹70 crore in a single language. The film altered the landscape of Telugu commercial cinema. It solidified Mahesh Babu's status as a star, transitioning his image from a "charming youth icon" to a formidable "mass hero". Similarly, the film's success established Puri Jagannadh as a "star director," known for his sharp, edgy dialogues and unique characterisations that would influence a decade of action films.
The film was also one of the fourteen southern Indian films to be screened at the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) Film festival in 2006. The film won five Nandi Awards and two Filmfare Awards. It was remade in Tamil as Pokkiri (2007), in Hindi as Wanted (2009), in Kannada as Porki (2010)
Plot In Hyderabad, two rival mafia gangs headed by Dubai-based gangster Ali Bhai and a local goon named Narayana resort to criminal activities such as extortion, contract killings, and coercion to take control of the city. Newly appointed Deputy Commissioner Sayyad Mohammad Pasha Qadri focuses on making the city safer by working on arresting all of them. Pandu, a thug working for money and living in Hyderabad along with his friends, is hired by Narayana to beat up Ali Bhai's henchman Mallesh. Pandu later joins Ali Bhai's gang after being offered money to join. Pandu falls in love with Shruthi, an aerobics teacher, who rejects his advances. Shruthi lives with her widowed mother and brother and her neighbor Brahmi, a software engineer who pesters her to marry him. A corrupt sub-inspector named Pasupathy, who works for Ali Bhai, lusts after Shruthi. He is determined to make her his mistress, undeterred by Sruthi's and her mother's multiple rejections. After killing Narayana's henchman, Pandu is confronted by Pasupathy and is able to prevent Shruthi from being molested. Shruthi meets him the next day to thank him, and starts to fall in love with Pandu after spending sometime with him. Shruthi tells Pandu about Pasupathy forcing her to be his mistress which angers Pandu.
After being tipped off by Brahmi, Pasupathy confronts Pandu who casually reveals his knowledge of Pasupathy's role in a constable's death during an encounter with a gangster, and warns him to stay away from Shruthi. To escape from Pasupathy's advances, Shruthi meets Pandu and proposes to him, but they're interrupted by an attack by Narayana's henchmen. Pandu brutally dispatches all of them, shocking Shruthi. After revealing his true colors, Pandu urges Shruthi to rethink her feelings. To ensure no decent family ever thinks of marrying her, Pasupathy arranges for some thugs to stage a mock sexual assault of Shruthi. Upon learning of this, an enraged Pandu beats up Pasupathy in a market without revealing himself, then anonymously warns him that if he ever finds out he was responsible, he'll kill him personally. Pandu is eventually tipped off when the same thugs try to molest Shruthi on a train, and brutally kills them. Shruthi eventually admits her love for Pandu despite his violent ways and the risk involved.
Meanwhile, Ali Bhai visits Hyderabad and assassinates Narayana, and meets Pandu to discuss the murder of a minister by blowing up children's balloons. Pandu rejects the plan as it would involve killing innocents. In the middle of their argument, the police raid the club and arrest Ali Bhai. Ali Bhai's gang members retaliate by kidnapping Qadri's daughter, drugging her and creating a lewd video of her which they threaten to release to the media if Ali Bhai is not released, forcing the embattled Qadri to release Ali Bhai, after which they release the video anyway, to Pandu's disgust. However, in her drugged state, Qadri's daughter inadvertently reveals that her father had placed an undercover officer as a mole in Ali Bhai's gang. With the help of Pasupathy, Ali Bhai finds out that the undercover IPS officer, Krishna Manohar, is the son of a retired Inspector Suryanarayana. Confronting Suryanarayana, Ali Bhai kills Pandu's friend and Suryanarayana's son, only for Suryanarayana to reveal that it was actually his adopted son, Ajay. Ali Bhai then kills Suryanarayana to lure the real Krishna Manohar. When Krishna Manohar actually turns up, everyone, especially Shruthi and Pasupathy are shocked to see that he is none other than Pandu. After Suryanarayana and Ajay's funeral, Pandu interrogates Pasupathy and has him call Ali Bhai to find out his location: Binny Mills. After having Pasupathy drive him there, Pandu proceeds to dispatch Ali Bhai's men one by one, and finally confronts Ali Bhai. Forcibly reminded of Qadri's warning about not meeting the right guy, Ali Bhai tries to reason with Pandu and attempts to kill him, only for Pandu to slice his throat, killing him. After calling Qadri to inform him that his daughter's safe, Pandu shocks Pasupathy by informing Qadri of his death. A confused Pasupathy draws his gun on him, but is shot dead by Pandu who reminds him that okka sari nenu commit ayithe naa maata nene vinanu (transl. Once I commit to anything, I won't even listen to myself), referencing the earlier threat he made to Pasupathy.
Cast
Mahesh Babu as Pandu/Krishna Manohar IPS Ileana D'Cruz as Shruthi Prakash Raj as Ali Bhai Nassar as Suryanarayana Ashish Vidyarthi as SI Pasupathy Sayaji Shinde as DCP Sayed Mohammad Pasha Qadri Brahmanandam as Brahmi Ali as Beggars' Association President Venu Madhav as Beggars' Association General Secretary Satya Prakash as Narayana G. V. Sudhakar Naidu as Banda Ganesh Subbaraju as "Indira Nagar" Mallesh Ajay as Ajay Master Bharath as Sruthi's brother Sudha as Lakshmi, Sruthi's mother Krishnudu as Pandu's friend Satyam Rajesh as Pandu's friend Prudhviraj as Vishwanath Narsing Yadav as Sattanna, a gangster Bandla Ganesh as a reporter Mumaith Khan cameo appearance in the song "Ippatikinka" Chandana Lakshmi Narasimha Rao (Chitti) as doctor
Production Development In 2004, after Andhrawalas commercial failure, its director Puri Jagannadh planned a film titled Sri Krishnudu from Surabhi Company starring Chiranjeevi in the lead role. He later decided that explaining the story to Chiranjeevi, talking him into accepting the role, and filming the movie, would be a long, tiring process. He chose instead to revive the script of Uttam Singh S/O Suryanarayana which he had written during the production of Badri (2000). He approached Pawan Kalyan to play the lead role, but he declined it. Later, he approached Ravi Teja who agreed to play the lead; Nagendra Babu was to produce the film. However, Teja was approached by Cheran, an award-winning director, to remake the 2004 Tamil film Autograph in Telugu. Teja was eager to be involved in the remake as he liked the original very much. As a result, the production Uttam Singh S/O Suryanarayana was temporarily shelved. Jagannadh meanwhile directed and produced 143 (2004). Teja had backed out of participating in it, citing scheduling conflicts with other existing commitments. Jagannadh wanted to experiment by casting Sonu Sood in the lead role, but this too failed to materialise.
On 3 November 2004, Jagannadh met Mahesh Babu at the Taj Hotel in Hyderabad to outline the film's plot. It told the story of Uttam Singh, an undercover police officer, infiltrating a mafia gang as a criminal, with the intention of killing its kingpin. Babu liked the script but suggested Jagannadh tweak the script's backdrop to suit the Telugu-speaking peoples' sensibilities. Jagannadh agreed and also replaced the existing title with Pokiri. Babu wanted the film's production to begin in 2005 allowing him to complete his current commitments. While he waited for Babu, Jagannadh directed Nagarjuna in Super (2005). While reworking the script, Jagannadh took inspiration from Marana Mrudangam (1988) and State Rowdy (1989). Pokiri was produced jointly by Jagannadh and Manjula Ghattamaneni's production companies, Vaishno Academy and Indira Productions respectively, on a budget of 1012 crore.
Cast and crew For Pokiri, Babu sported a longer hair style than in his previous films and shed five kilograms of weight. He used a new wardrobe and the same pair of shoes throughout the film. Jagannadh wanted to cast Ayesha Takia as the female lead. Due to a last minute change, the makers opted to replace Takia and considered several actresses including Deepika Padukone. Jagannadh approached Parvati Melton to play the female lead. She declined the offer because, at that time, her parents were against her decision to become an actress. He also approached Kangana Ranaut who could not accept the role because of scheduling conflicts with the filming of her scenes in Gangster (2006). After seeing stills of Ileana in her Telugu debut Devadasu (2006), Jagannadh signed her as the female lead since he needed a girl who looked like a teenager to play the role of the aerobics teacher.
Prakash Raj and Ashish Vidyarthi were cast as the film's primary antagonists. Raj played a mafia kingpin and Vidyarthi played a corrupt police officer, a villain's role he finds more fun to play than that of a hero. Sayaji Shinde and Nassar played the two other principal characters in the film. Jyothi Rana played the role of the mafia kingpin's moll, marking her debut in Telugu cinema. Isai and Subbaraju portrayed negative roles as well, with the former also making his debut in Telugu cinema. Ali played the role of a beggar and shared screen-space with Brahmanandam and Venu Madhav. Jagannadh added this trio to the film to provide situational humour. Master Bharath played the role of Ileana's brother. Mumaith Khan performed an item number in the film.
Jagannadh wrote the film's story, screenplay and dialogue with Meher Ramesh assisting him as script associate. Clip from 00:00:48 to 00:01:30. Though having worked with Chakri many times in the past, at Babu's suggestion, Jagannadh instead chose Mani Sharma to compose the film's music. Shyam K. Naidu was the film's cinematographer and Marthand K. Venkatesh its editor. Chinna and Krishna were the film's art director and executive producer respectively.
Filming