Development In 2004, after
Andhrawalas commercial failure, its director
Puri Jagannadh planned a film titled
Sri Krishnudu from Surabhi Company starring
Chiranjeevi in the lead role. He later decided that explaining the story to Chiranjeevi, talking him into accepting the role, and filming the movie, would be a long, tiring process. He chose instead to revive the script of
Uttam Singh S/O Suryanarayana which he had written during the production of
Badri (2000). He approached
Pawan Kalyan to play the lead role, but he declined it. Later, he approached
Ravi Teja who agreed to play the lead;
Nagendra Babu was to produce the film. However, Teja was approached by
Cheran, an award-winning director, to remake the 2004
Tamil film
Autograph in Telugu. Teja was eager to be involved in the remake as he liked the original very much. As a result, the production
Uttam Singh S/O Suryanarayana was temporarily shelved. Jagannadh meanwhile directed and produced
143 (2004). Teja had backed out of participating in it, citing scheduling conflicts with other existing commitments. Jagannadh wanted to experiment by casting
Sonu Sood in the lead role, but this too failed to materialise. On 3 November 2004, Jagannadh met
Mahesh Babu at the Taj Hotel in Hyderabad to outline the film's plot. It told the story of Uttam Singh, an undercover police officer, infiltrating a mafia gang as a criminal, with the intention of killing its kingpin. Babu liked the script but suggested Jagannadh tweak the script's backdrop to suit the Telugu-speaking peoples' sensibilities. Jagannadh agreed and also replaced the existing title with
Pokiri. Babu wanted the film's production to begin in 2005 allowing him to complete his current commitments. While he waited for Babu, Jagannadh directed
Nagarjuna in
Super (2005). While reworking the script, Jagannadh took inspiration from
Marana Mrudangam (1988) and
State Rowdy (1989).
Pokiri was produced jointly by Jagannadh and
Manjula Ghattamaneni's production companies,
Vaishno Academy and
Indira Productions respectively, on a budget of 1012 crore.
Cast and crew For
Pokiri, Babu sported a longer hair style than in his previous films and shed five kilograms of weight. He used a new wardrobe and the same pair of shoes throughout the film. Jagannadh wanted to cast
Ayesha Takia as the female lead. Due to a last minute change, the makers opted to replace Takia and considered several actresses including
Deepika Padukone. Jagannadh approached
Parvati Melton to play the female lead. She declined the offer because, at that time, her parents were against her decision to become an actress. He also approached
Kangana Ranaut who could not accept the role because of scheduling conflicts with the filming of her scenes in
Gangster (2006). After seeing
stills of
Ileana in her Telugu debut
Devadasu (2006), Jagannadh signed her as the female lead since he needed a girl who looked like a teenager to play the role of the aerobics teacher.
Sayaji Shinde and
Nassar played the two other principal characters in the film. Jyothi Rana played the role of the mafia kingpin's
moll, marking her debut in Telugu cinema.
Mumaith Khan performed an
item number in the film. Jagannadh wrote the film's story, screenplay and dialogue with
Meher Ramesh assisting him as script associate. Though having worked with
Chakri many times in the past, at Babu's suggestion, Jagannadh instead chose
Mani Sharma to compose the film's music.
Shyam K. Naidu was the film's cinematographer and
Marthand K. Venkatesh its editor. Chinna and Krishna were the film's art director and executive producer respectively. Most of the scenes were shot in a single take though it took time for Babu to adjust to Jagannadh's style of filmmaking.
Chennai-based stylist Chaitanya Rao designed the costume styling for Babu and Ileana. By late February 2006, eighty percent of the film shoot had been completed with the film's climax and two songs remaining. This made it Babu's fastest shot Telugu film with him in the lead role. The song "Gala Gala" was shot in the
province of
Phuket in
Thailand, and the city of
Bangkok. Prior to the filming of the song "Jagadame", Shyam K. Naidu was busy on the set of
Munna (2007) and was unable to shoot it so cinematographer
K. V. Guhan, who had worked on Babu's
Athadu (2005), was recruited instead. The film's climax sequences were shot in March 2006 at the defunct
Binny Mills located in Chennai under the supervision of
FEFSI Vijayan. Ileana D'Cruz's
T-shirt which was printed with "I May Not Be Perfect But Parts of Me Are Pretty Awesome" had earlier been used in Puri Jagannadh's
Hello Premistara (2007). == Music ==