The big leap

He has none other than Amitabh Bachchan in his film. Puri Jagannadh,the young director of Telugu films,makes...

Like most of us,Puri Jagannadh too has been an ardent fan of Amitabh Bachchan. But hailing from a small village in Vizag,he had no aspirations of coming into films,and hence did not entertain thoughts of working with the superstar seriously. Circumstances,however,had him working as an assistant director to Ram Gopal Varma in Rangeela. Gradually,he moved on to direct films in his mother tongue. His directorial Telugu debut Badri,starring Pawan Kalyan,Ameesha Patel and Prakash Raj was a big hit. But its remake Shart : The Challenge with Tusshar Kapoor and Gracy Singh,that marked his debut in Hindi in 2004 did not do as well. Dejected,he went back to make more Telugu films. Pokiri was his first film that had a silver jubilee run at the box-office and was later made in Hindi as Wanted with Salman Khan. His next film Idiot also did well and he began getting offers from Bollywood,but he got very busy with Telugu films to pay heed to any of them.

Jagannadh was working on a script with the intention of remaking an English film based on the father-daughter relationship and had Amitabh Bachchan in mind. When he called RGV to inform him about it,Varma did not like the story idea but told him to write something else and call him back. Within a week,the young filmmaker was ready with the script of Bbuddah… When he approached Bachchan with the script,the senior actor liked the idea since he wanted to do something very different. However,he asked for certain changes in the script. RGV said,Just trust him and I agreed, smiled the director. During the shooting,the superstar was completely involved in the project. The film is produced by AB Corp,Viacom 18 and me. I am very confident of my film.

Talking about his fascination for Bachchan,the young maker says that he has seen most of his films including Agneepath,Sholay and Deewaar wherein he was the hero but once he started doing characters role,a disappointed Puri Jagannadh stopped watching his films for the next 25 years. The last film I saw of his was Mard. I was angry with him for doing character roles. I could not watch my hero playing a father. He is like Rajinikanth who will remain our idol for ever, laughed the director,who again started watching Bachchan films since Sarkar,Sarkar Raj,Cheeni Kum and Paa where he was the hero again.

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Referring to the title Bbuddah Hoga Terra Baap,the director said,I wanted to tell everyone that he is still the angry young man. He is still very good with comedy,stunts,emotion and all. In the film,he plays an old gangster from Mumbai,in fact he is the founder of the mafia here,who leaves India for Paris and returns years later to complete a pending issue. When he is taunted as buddah (Old),he retaliates by saying Buddah hoga tera baap. Hence the title.

Talking about the characters look in the film,Puri Jagannadh said,It was our idea and he approved. Since he is a pub owner in Paris,we decided to give him a stylish look. He is wearing colourful,gaudy costumes and vibrant goggles. For this,he worked with Lepakshi,a dress designer from Telugu films. As for the other actors,the director said that Hema Malini agreed to do the film because of Bachchan. She doesnt know me. Raveena plays his former girlfriend. Good friend Sonu Sood,who has done a couple of my Telugu films,plays a police commissioner, he stated,adding that the item song on Raveena is only for promotion and has not been included in the film.

The music of the film is being talked about,he said,because of Vishal-Shekhars efforts to have made Bachchan sing Acapella. Bachchan was very excited and has performed the guitar sounds,the rhythm and chorus sounds himself. He is a very talented guy, said an impressed director,who added that the superstar would tweet all good things about me and never told me about it.

The film was shot entirely in Mumbai,in 44 days and at the budget of only 10 crore. This has put Puri Jagannadh in a quandary,he stated,because now he is getting a lot of Hindi film offers but with a limited budget. He has not taken up any offer yet as he believes that most films flop because of cost failures. After Bbuddah…,Puri Jagannadh will start work in July on Businessman,a Telugu film starring Mahesh Babu. Meanwhile,he is confident that Bbuddah … will mark a new era for the Big B.

namita.nivas@expressindia.com

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