Revisiting Pokiri – Iconic Film on its 14th Anniversary

Starring: Mahesh Babu, Ileana, Prakash Raj, Nassar
Directed by: Puri Jagannadh
Released on: April 28, 2006

INTRO:

It’s been 14 years since the release of Pokiri, an iconic film which every movie-watching Telugu person would be familiar with. At a time when films with Rayalaseema faction backdrop defined typical telugu commercial cinema, Pokiri arrived to break the stereotype. Rayalaseema was replaced by Hyderabad city, knives/axes were replaced by guns and a loud hot-headed angry hero was replaced by a calm, smart, good looking and swaggy gangster.

The movie carried a very simple storyline. A small-time goon Pandu (Mahesh Babu) who beats up or threatens people for a living joins big gangs and bigger criminals only to finish them all off later as he is an undercover cop. Nassar reveals his son Pandu to be Krishna Manohar IPS in the climax which was a twist celebrated by the audience at that time. That climax revelation brings goosebumps to audience even now. Such was the impact of that scene.

Pokiri showed Mahesh in a new look and attitude. This film was undoubtedly a landmark film in Mahesh Babu’s career. It made him a “Super Star” and his fan base reached new heights and made him a popular name all over South India. His style, dialogue delivery, body language, mannerisms, dances and fights in this movie were trendsetters at that time and earned him untouchable craze among young boys and girls. Ileana, as the female lead is very impressive in this film and this film ensured a bright future for her in Tollywood. Prakash Raj as Ali Bhai impresses in his own style. Ashish Vidyarthi as a corrupt police officer, Ali as a beggar, Brahmanandam as a software engineer, Ajay as Mahesh’s friend – all played memorable roles which added more value to their successful careers.

Shyam K Naidu’s camerawork and Manisharma’s music are major plus-points to the film. The songs and background score are popular even today and were a rage at the time of the release. Mahesh’s simple and stylish dance moves in Dole Dole song, costumes in Gala Gala Paarutunna song, enegetic moves in Devuda Devuda song and Mahesh in lungi avatar in Choodadhantunna song were all major crowd pleasers. Vijayan’s fight sequences also turned out to be a major advantage for the film. The intro fight scene inside a factory and the popular “Khairathabad hero” train fight and the climax fight shot in Binny Mills are all powerful and a bit violent too justifying the A certificate given to the movie. Despite being violent, the fights paid off as they were more stylish, massy and different from the usual commercial films.

Finally, the captain of the ship- Puri Jagannadh, usually known for his hero characterizations once again used it to his advantage and showed Mahesh in new light which connected immensely with the audience. Not only with hero’s characterization and script but Puri also left his mark with the dialogues too.

These dialogues became a rage among audience and are very popular even today and people use them in their casual conversations. Many people watched the movie multiple times just for these dialogues. Hence, this film became a turning point in Puri Jagannadh’s career too and made him one of the top directors in Tollywood.

RECORDS AND LANDMARKS:

Pokiri was a sensation at the box-office and became the highest grossing South Indian film and second highest grossing Indian film at that time. As per data in several popular sites, Pokiri had collected a distributor share of over 40 crores, becoming the first South Indian film and the second Indian film to achieve this feat. The movie set new benchmarks for the box-office performance of a South Indian film by overtaking the then South Indian industry hit ‘Chandramukhi’ in domestic box-office. In telugu states, Pokiri overtook the then Industry Hit ‘Indra’ by a huge margin to emerge as the new Tollywood industry hit. It became the first Telugu film to cross 10cr share mark in Telangana and 20cr share mark in Andhra, thus creating all time records in both states. It is also the first film to cross 30cr and 35cr share mark in Telugu states.

Pokiri had a dream run in theatres and completed 50,100,150 and 175 days in a record number of theatres most of which are unbeaten even today. The movie made huge profits for each and every person involved. Puri Jagannadh and Mahesh’s sister Manjula had produced this film and the movie’s performance exceeded their expectations and shocked them with the revenue it made. Pokiri ran for 50 days in nearly 300 centers, 100 days in 200 centers, 175 days in 63 centers and 200 days in 15 centers which is an unbeaten record till date and most probably might remain untouched forever.

Among the movie’s memorable landmarks, Pokiri had a 202-day run at Jayshyam Theatre, Tirupati with 5 shows daily and ran houseful non-stop for the first 105 days which is an unbeaten state record till date. The movie had 1005 shows screened in it’s 200-day run in this theatre which is an All India Record (The first few days of release had more than 5 shows). Pokiri also completed 365-day run in Bhagiratha theatre, Kurnool and went on to have a 500 day run in the theatre. Pokiri also became the first Telugu film to cross 10 crore distributor share mark in Nizam region and the only Telugu film to have 175-day run in 2 theatres in Hyderabad city. Also, Pokiri was the highest grossing telugu film in the United States at that time and also the highest grossing Indian film with an ‘Adults only’ censor certification (This record remained unbeaten for several years after that).

AFTERMATH:

Pokiri bagged a lot of awards in a lot prestigious award ceremonies. Some of them include the Nandi Award for most popular feature film and the best actor award for Mahesh Babu at the 54th Filmfare Awards.

Pokiri was remade into Tamil as Pokkiri starring Vijay and into Hindi as Wanted starring Salman Khan and both ended up becoming huge blockbusters in the respective industries. Pokiri was officially remade in Kannada and unofficially in Bengali.

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