Pokiri

Pokiri
File:Mahesh.jpg
Directed by	Puri Jagannadh
Written by	Puri Jagannadh
Produced by	Puri Jagannadh
Starring	Mahesh Babu, Illeana, Prakash Raj
Music by	Mani Sharma
Release dates	April 28, 2006
Language	Telugu

Pokiri is a 2006 Telugu action movie directed by Puri Jagannadh. Mahesh Babu, Illeana, and Prakash Raj are in the lead roles.

Sypnopsis

Pandu (Mahesh Babu) is a mafia man who lives a life like a thug.He soes anything for the sake of money.Meanwhile two rival mafia gangs Narayanagang headed by (Surya) and Alibhaigang headed by (Prakash Raj) fights against eachother for the supremacy over land mafia business in Hyderabad.Pandu incidentally joins in the Alibhai's gang and in various situatuons kills most of the rival gang members..Pandu falls in love with an aerobis instructor(Illeana) in first sight.Even though she has a softcorner for him she couldn't digest the activities of Pandu.But still she couldn't stop loving him. In the mean time Alibhai comes to Hyderabd from Dubai and immediately kills Narayana.While he chills out in a bar he gets arrested by the police headed by the Commissioner(Shayaji Shinde).Alibhai gangmembers then blackmails Commssioner with his daughter's blue film and gets Alibhai released from the jail..When Alibhai try to take revenge by raping the Commissioner's daughter she reveals that her father gets their infromation from an undercover IPS officer.Then they immediately tries to get his information with the help of a corrupt Sub Inspector(Ashish Vidyarthi).They come to know that the IPS officer is Pandu after killing his father...The climax shows how Pandu takes revenge for hos father's death and how he eliminates all the remaining mafia members..

Analysis

It is a straight lift from 1997-released Hollywood flick, Donnie Brasco. The original was starred by Johnny Depp as undercover FBI agent (here Mahesh plays this role) and Al Pacino as the Mafia leader (Prakash Raj does it). Except that in original hero is a married guy and his undercover operations put him in emotional dilemma, the rest of the film is a straight copy of it.

In all Puri's films you find a strong hero characterization and stylish presentation. Pokiri is no exception. Mahesh Babu's role has all the ingredients to make his fans go in frenzy. Indeed, Mahesh has come up with a good performance. Though he has given better performances than this in the past, he's at his best in this film. The film mainly looks interesting when Mahesh comes on the screen. It is Mahesh's show all the way.

Pokiri's first half is interesting but in the second half the excessive action episodes and stretched out screenplay holds no interest.

What's hot!

Mahesh Babu's performance, Illeana's charm and Manisharma's music are highlights. Illeana proves with this film that she has in it to go great places in Telugu films. She has also improved her acting skills. ShayajiShinde's role is good. Manisharma always comes up with good music for Mahesh films. In Pokiri, his re-recording work is excellent. Sham K Naidu's cinematography is another asset.Also Puri's take on media is excellent.

What's not!

Cheap comedy track by Ali and Brahmanandam is disgusting. The seperate comedy track is in no way of any use to the film. Bad screenplay in the second half, lewd dialogues, and nauseating action stunts are major drawbacks.Prakash Raj's performance is very repetitive. Some of the scenes put off women and family audiences because of excessive sex-related scenes and dialogues.

BoxOffice

The movie has got an extraordinary opening all over Andhrapradesh.At present,it is milking the money at Box-office like anything. It has got huge hit talk, though its total range of success can be gauged a week later only. On the first day of its release, the film’s talk was not that encouraging because of its excessive action sequences in the second half and lewd dialogues and scenes in the film. But as other summer releases turned out to be losing proposition and students and youth are having summer holidays, the films collections are stupendous.

Everyone agrees the fact that Pokiri has nothing new in terms of content but it is Mahesh’s performance and Illena’s charm are working in favor of the film. Youth are gaga over Mahesh Babu in this film. Some films get all the luck, just like it.

Even in B centers like Gudiwada in Krishna district it is getting record-breaking collections. In Nizam (bought by Dil Raju), Guntur and Krishna (rights bought by Geeta Arts and B Madhu) territories, the film has seen massive openings.

Anyhow, as of now, director and producer Puri Jagannadh is enjoying the moments. For his last three films – Andhrawala, 143 and Super were miserable flops at box-office. With this hit, he is again on center stage.

Even for Mahesh, the film’s success puts him in gear. For he never tasted two successes in a row.