:: Pokiri ::
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Cast & Crew
* Mahesh Babu
* Ileana D'Cruz
* Prakash Raj
* Sayaji Shinde
* Ashish Vidyarthi
* Ali
* Brahmanandam
* Music: Mani Sharma
* Lyrics: Viswa & Bhaskarabhatla
* Cinematography: Shyam K Naidu
* Editing: Marthand K Vanekatesh
* Fights: Vijayan
* Presents: Srimati Indira
* Story,screenplay,direction,
dialogues,producer: Puri Jagan
* Release Date: 28th April, 2006
* Movie Rating 4.5/5
:: Plot ::
The city of Hyderabad is rife with nefarious activities of land mafia. There are two rival gangs, one under Ali Bhai (Prakash Raj) who resides in Dubai and controls the operation through his underlings Nayar and Mona. The other gang is operated by local goon Narayan. Both threaten builders and land owners into giving them hafta/protection money or real estate property, through means of force, extortion or murder. Syed Pasha (Sayaji Shinde) arrives as the new Commissioner of Hyderabad and starts cracking on goons in the city.
The movie begins with Pandu (Mahesh Babu), a local goon who will kill anyone, anytime for money, being chased by Mallesh, a member of Ali Bhai's gang and his henchmen. Pandu has taken a contract from Narayan to beat up Mallesh, which he does successfully. Impressed by his ability to handle a seasoned gangster like Mallesh and his henchmen, Naik invites Pandu to join Ali bhai's gang. Pandu declines the offer stating that he does not work for any gang, but is ready to do anything, given enough money. Meanwhile, Pandu encounters Shruthi (Ileana D'Cruz) when he visits his uncle's (Nassar) aerobics class. He is bowled over by her beauty, though she disregards him as a thug. Shruthi a college going student, lives with her widowed mother and younger brother. Brahmi (Brahmanandam) lives above Shruthi's house, is a major source of irritation for her family, as he incessantly tries to convince Shruthi into marrying him. Sub inspector Pashupathy (Ashish Vidyarthi), is a corrupt police officer in the colony where Pandu and shruthi live. He goes hand in glove with the land mafia, often helping them out in their activities. He is also on the payroll of Ali Bhai. He is also a lecherous man, whose eye falls on Shruthi and he decides to make her his mistress.
Pandu's first assignment with Ali Bhai's gang is to kill a member of Narayan's gang. However, police show up at the spot where Pandu and the other gangsters are waiting for the kill. Pandu distracts the cops long enough for the others to finish the task and flee. He also helps Shruthi escape from Pashupathy, in the middle of all this. She is impressed by his kindness and starts developing friendship with him. He also starts having feelings for her, which are reciprocated by Shruthi. When she expresses her feelings towards him, they are attacked by members of Narayan's gang, whom Pandu single handedly finishes off. Shruthi is shocked to learn that Pandu is a seasoned ganagster and has no qualms in killing people.
Pashupathy starts harassing Shruthi and her mother, and wants them to cater his lecherous demands. On realizing that Shruthi is about to get married, he arranges to have some thugs put up a mock show of molesting Shruthi, so that no decent family will want to take her as their daughter-in-law and with no other option Shruthi and her mother will accept his demands. Pandu gets wind of this and trashes Pashupathy incognito, warning him that if he is responsible for this incident then things will turn very ugly for him.
Unable to withstand the interference by Narayan into his gangs operations, Ali Bhai comes to Hyderabad and kills Narayan in person. He also meets Pandu to discuss with him the killing of a minister by blowing up a bomb. Pandu however, disagrees to Ali Bhai's method as it is his principle not to kill women and children. In the middle of their argument, police raid the club and arrest Ali Bhai. His gang members retaliate by creating a lewd video of Police Commissioner's daughter and releasing it to media. They also kidnap the Commissioner's daughter, forcing the police to release Ali Bhai. After coming out, Ali Bhai starts torturing the Commissioner's daughter, who accidentally reveals that her father has placed a mole in Ali Bhai's gang. This causes a lot of tensions and after digging up some old records they find that Pandu's uncle, Suryanarayanan was formerly a circle inspector and his son Krishnamanohar is now a part of Pandu's gang. Assuming him to be the mole, Ali Bhai kills Krishnamanohar in front of his dad. However, it is then revealed that the person who died is not Krishnamanohar but Ajay. It is then revealed that Krishna Manohar the actual son of the circle inspector is none other than Pandu. His father explains that Krishna Manohar is a gold medalist IPS officer, who has been masquerading as a thug so that he can penetrate the underworld and wipe it out from the inside it.
The movie concludes with Krishna Manoher/Pandu avenging his father's death by finishing off all members of Ali Bhai's gang including Ali Bhai and Pasupathy.
Production
Ayesha Takia was approached to play the role of Shruti but declined the role. It later went to Ileana D'Cruz. Ironically, Ayesha Takia will now be playing the same role in the Hindi remake of Pokiri
Release
* The film released in 297 screens,including 254 in andhra Pradesh, 20 in Karnataka,3 in Orissa,3 in Tamil Nadu,1 in Mumbai and 16 in Overseas.
* The film lately released in 30 theatres in Orissa.
Box office
In its first week of release, Pokiri collected a share of 9.11 crores.
* The film collected a share of Rs.48.28 crores and grossed Rs.66.5 crores which remains to be the highest figure in Tollywood.
Andhra Pradesh
* The film grossed Rs.1.63 crores in 189 days from Sudershan35mm,which is the highest single theatre gross in Andhra Pradesh and also the 4th film of Mahesh Babu to gross more than Rs.1 crore in a single theatre.
* The film netted a distributors' share of Rs.3.12 crores in its entire run from Guntur which is the highest for any film in Guntur.
Karnataka
* The film had a 100% opening in all the 12 theatres in which it was screened in Bangalore collecting a distributors' share of Rs.36 lakhs in 1 week.
* It collected a distributors' share of Rs.2.08 crores in 75 days.
Chennai
* Pokiri debuted in Chennai at no. 2 position with a 98.5% opening,collecting a distributors' share of Rs.12 lakhs in its first week from Tamil Nadu.
* The film collected a distributors' share of Rs.43 lakhs from Chennai.
Orissa
* The film collected a share of Rs.12 lakhs in its first 2 weeks after the release and Rs.14 lakhs in 3 weeks.
* The film had a direct 100 days run in 2 centres and also a shift run in 4 theatres.
Maharashtra
* The film collected a share of Rs.15 lakhs in its first 2 weeks after the release and Rs.18.44 lakhs in 3 weeks.
Overseas
* In the US,the film grossed $350,000 by June 2006. Totally,it collected a distributors' share of over Rs.2.5 crores from USA.
* It collected a distributors' share of Rs.15 lakhs from Gulf region and Rs.12 lakhs from United Kingdom.
* The film collected a distributors' share of Rs.12.8 lakhs from Australia and Rs 11.72 lakhs from Singapore in 10 weeks.
Pokiri dubbed and Released in Poland as a Wojownik.This film released by Srikanth chinta
Awards
* Mahesh Babu - Filmfare Award; Best Actor For The Year 2006
* Puri Jagannadh - Filmfare Award; Best Director For The Year 2006
* Nandi Awards-Film providing wholesome entertainment for the year 2006 or popular feature film
Rating
* In India, the film got a CBFC Rating of A which means people who are 18 or older can watch it.
* In the U.S., it also got a CBFC A rating from the distributors but in America, a CBFC A rating is Equal to an MPPA R rating.
Jukebox
* Pokiri