Pokiri completes a perfect 10

'Pokiri' completes 10 years of its release. And even today when I think of the film I am struck with a feeling of awe. The film that won four Nandi awards had so much to offer. From entertainment, to action and all that nail biting moments the film had every thing that made it the highest-grossing Telugu film for three years.

The film hit the theatres on 28th April, 2006 starred Mahesh Babu and Ileana D’cruz in the lead. Mahesh Babu’s poised performance was the biggest USP of this film. It was perfectly matched with Prakash Raj’s evilness. Then there was Nasser, Ashish Vidyarthi, Sayaji Shinde, Bramhanandam who supported the film perfectly. Every actor in this film performed to his best potential.

Mahesh Babu as an undercover police officer, infiltrating a mafia gang as a criminal, with the intention of killing its kingpin was something novel. Puri Jagganadh’s treatment and the way he gave shape to the script made 'Pokiri' one of the cult films in the history of Tollywood.

The film collected good moolah and created a Rs 40 Crore club in Tollywood. It happened to be the first film to cross the Rs 40 Crore in the Telugu film industry.

'Pokiri' became so famous that it was remade in Tamil by Prabhudeva with Vijay and Asin. Looked like Prabhudeva was not getting enough with that and he recreated the movie in Bollywood with Salman Khan and Ayesha Takia with the title 'Wanted'. The film became and superhit and this is the same film that resurrected Salman's career. Most recently the film was remade in Kannada with Darshan and Pranitha Subhash doing the lead roles.

Manisharma's music was magic in the film. All songs are popular even today. And the chemistry between Mahesh Babu and Ileana is superb. It was with this film that Ileana became top queen of Tollywood.

'Pokiri' is my one of my all-time fav movies of Tollywood.

P.S: Good news is that Puri Jagannadh says he has already prepared script for Mahesh Babu for thier third combination.

By Sumana Vishwanath