Puli (film)
Encyclopedia
Puli is a 2010 Telugu action film
written and directed by S. J. Suryaah
, starring Pawan Kalyan
in the lead role, with Nikeesha Patel
, Manoj Bajpai
, Charan Raj, Nassar
, Jyothi Krishna, Bhrahmaji, Ali and Girish Karnad
in supporting roles and Shriya Saran
appearing in an item number
. The film features a soundtrack by A. R. Rahman
and cinematography by Binod Pradhan
. It was produced by Navodaya Appachan and Singanamala Ramesh
on a 35 crore budget and was distributed Geetha Arts
. The film was released on September 10. The film was originally titled Komaram Puli but was renamed as Puli on the second day of release, following objections by Komaram Sony Rao, grandson of the tribal legend Komaram Bheem
, from whose name the title of the movie was taken.
's dream project. Initially he planned to make the movie with Akshay Kumar
in Hindi and later with Vijay in Tamil and he sent bound scripts to both superstars. But both the projects did not happen. The storyline was also discussed with Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi
. Later, after the confirmation from pawan kalyan, it was finalised to make in Telugu with Pawan Kalyan
. Hansika Motwani
was originally signed to play the heroine but was replaced by Nikeesha Patel
, who made her acting debut in this film. The film was sent to the censor board on September 4 and received an A certificate.
and Tamil Nadu
, as well as in Malaysia, Singapore
, Bangkok
and Dubai
. The filming was almost completed by May 2010, but the songs were shot from May 18 onwards only.
martyr Komaram Bheem
, who fought against the erstwhile Asaf Jahi dynasty for the liberation of Hyderabad State
. However, following the objections by Komaram Sony Rao, grandson of Komaram Bheem, and also by a section of Telangana Joint Action Committee activists who called for a boycott of the film, the movie was renamed with title "Puli" on the second day of its release. The soundtrack album is titled "Komaram Puli".
The film critic from NDTV
warned the audience by saying "watch the film at your own risk. Its a big-budget film with a solid casting. It has got some extraordinarily directed action scenes." The background score by A. R. Rahman
and camerawork by Binod Pradhan
were appreciated and many critics rated them as the highlight of the movie. It was thought to be a failure at the box office.
The makers of the film re-edited it due to very poor reviews and re-released the shortened version on 15 September 2010. The final outcome however was disappointing. The film was declared as a flop at the box office.
and lyrics penned by Chandrabose. The highly anticipated soundtrack album was released on 11 July 2010 by Sony Music
. The release rights of the album was purchased by Sony Music for 2 crores. The audio was launched by K Rosaiah, Rahman and his mother Kareema Begum in a function held at H.I.C.C Novotel
, Hyderabad. The function was attended by K Rosaiah, S. J. Suryaah
, Allu Aravind, Pawan Kalyan
, Nikeesha Patel
, Shriya Saran
, A. R. Rahman, Chandrabose, Anand Sai
, Singanamala Ramesh, S. R. Murthy and many others. The soundtrack got overwhelming biggest disaster and became a hot seller. The audio sales reached a total of 3 lakhs of CDs in the first three days, which is an all-time record in Telugu film history..
The picturisation of the songs was also noted. Two songs were choreographed by Bollywood choreographer Ahmed Khan
. The songs he choreographed were "Power Star" (Pawan Kalyan
's introduction song) and "Dochey" (an item number
featuring Shriya Saran). The songs were filmed in two schedules at Annapurna Studios beginning from May 18. Of the six songs written for the film, four songs were directly included in the film while the remaining two served as background songs. Lyricist Chandrabose collaborated with Rahman for the first time through this film. He took almost three months to write the song "Amma Thale", while all it took to write the song "Maaralente" was 90 minutes. A. R. Rahman's original score also received critical praise. Rahman collaborated with artists from three European countries to re-record the background score.
Action film
Action film is a film genre where one or more heroes is thrust into a series of challenges that require physical feats, extended fights and frenetic chases...
written and directed by S. J. Suryaah
S. J. Suryaah
S. Justin Selvaraj is an Indian film director, writer, actor, and producer in Kollywood, the Tamil film industry. His screen name is S. J. Surya.- Film career :...
, starring Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan ; is an Indian film Actor, Director, Screenwriter and Action choreographer in Telugu cinema...
in the lead role, with Nikeesha Patel
Nikeesha Patel
Nikeesha Patel is a British Indian model and film actress. She debuted in 2010 Telugu film Puli, directed by S. J. Suryaah and starring Pawan Kalyan.-Early life and career:...
, Manoj Bajpai
Manoj Bajpai
Manoj Bajpai , also credited as Manoj Bajpayee, is an Indian film actor, known for playing offbeat and unconventional roles. He first shot into fame with his breakthrough role in Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 film Satya.-Early life:...
, Charan Raj, Nassar
Nassar
Nassar is a Tamil actor, producer, writer, director, lyricist, and singer. He has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English films. He is often cited as part of India's specialist character actors, along with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Nana Patekar...
, Jyothi Krishna, Bhrahmaji, Ali and Girish Karnad
Girish Karnad
Girish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language...
in supporting roles and Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran , also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has worked in several of the regional industries of Indian cinema, having acted in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada...
appearing in an item number
Item number
An item number or an item song, in Indian cinema, is a musical performance that has little to do with the film in which it appears, but is presented to showcase beautiful dancing women in very revealing clothes, to lend support to the marketability of the film...
. The film features a soundtrack by A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and philanthropist. Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and...
and cinematography by Binod Pradhan
Binod Pradhan
Binod Pradhan is an acclaimed Indian cinematographer whose creative visuals and cutting-edge imagery have left their mark on Indian cinema. Some his award-winning works include 1942 A Love Story, Devdas, Rang De Basanti, Mission Kashmir, Munna Bhai M.B.B.S...
. It was produced by Navodaya Appachan and Singanamala Ramesh
Singanamala Ramesh
Singanamala Ramesh is an Indian film producer, who produces films under the banner of Sri Kanakaratna Movies Pvt Ltd, mainly in Telugu language.-Filmography:-Personal life:...
on a 35 crore budget and was distributed Geetha Arts
Geetha Arts
Geetha Arts is a film production company of Allu Aravind based in Hyderabad. He has produced over 25 films under this company...
. The film was released on September 10. The film was originally titled Komaram Puli but was renamed as Puli on the second day of release, following objections by Komaram Sony Rao, grandson of the tribal legend Komaram Bheem
Komaram Bheem
Komaram Bheem is a tribal leader who fought against the erstwhile Asaf Jahi Dynasty for the liberation of Hyderabad State.On December 17, 2009, it was announced that a statue of Bheem would be installed in Hyderabad....
, from whose name the title of the movie was taken.
Cast
- Pawan KalyanPawan KalyanPawan Kalyan ; is an Indian film Actor, Director, Screenwriter and Action choreographer in Telugu cinema...
as Puli - Nikeesha PatelNikeesha PatelNikeesha Patel is a British Indian model and film actress. She debuted in 2010 Telugu film Puli, directed by S. J. Suryaah and starring Pawan Kalyan.-Early life and career:...
as Madhumathi - Manoj BajpaiManoj BajpaiManoj Bajpai , also credited as Manoj Bajpayee, is an Indian film actor, known for playing offbeat and unconventional roles. He first shot into fame with his breakthrough role in Ram Gopal Varma's 1998 film Satya.-Early life:...
as Al Saleem - S. J. SuryaahS. J. SuryaahS. Justin Selvaraj is an Indian film director, writer, actor, and producer in Kollywood, the Tamil film industry. His screen name is S. J. Surya.- Film career :...
as Hussain - Saranya PonvannanSaranya PonvannanSaranya Ponvannan, is an Indian film actress, who has predominantly appeared in Tamil language films. Saranya made her debut in a lead role in Mani Ratnam's Nayagan and went on to play lead roles in a few films during the late 1980s...
- Charan Raj as Inspector General of Police
- NassarNassarNassar is a Tamil actor, producer, writer, director, lyricist, and singer. He has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi and English films. He is often cited as part of India's specialist character actors, along with the likes of Naseeruddin Shah, Om Puri and Nana Patekar...
as Assistant Commissioner of Police - Jyothi Krishna
- Brahmaji as Inspector of Police
- Ali
- Girish KarnadGirish KarnadGirish Raghunath Karnad is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language...
as Prime Minister - Gopinath
- Shriya SaranShriya SaranShriya Saran , also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has worked in several of the regional industries of Indian cinema, having acted in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada...
as bar dancer in the song "Dochey"
Development and casting
Puli was director S. J. SuryaahS. J. Suryaah
S. Justin Selvaraj is an Indian film director, writer, actor, and producer in Kollywood, the Tamil film industry. His screen name is S. J. Surya.- Film career :...
's dream project. Initially he planned to make the movie with Akshay Kumar
Akshay Kumar
Akshay Kumar is an Indian film actor, producer and martial artist who has appeared in over a hundred Hindi films. When he began his acting career in the 1990s, he primarily starred in action films and was particularly known for his appearances in feature films commonly called the "Khiladi series",...
in Hindi and later with Vijay in Tamil and he sent bound scripts to both superstars. But both the projects did not happen. The storyline was also discussed with Malayalam actor Suresh Gopi
Suresh Gopi
Suresh Gopinathan Nair , often credited as Suresh Gopi , is an Indian film actor who works mainly in Malayalam cinema; he is famous for his roles in police dramas. He is noted for his leading roles as much as his character roles...
. Later, after the confirmation from pawan kalyan, it was finalised to make in Telugu with Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan ; is an Indian film Actor, Director, Screenwriter and Action choreographer in Telugu cinema...
. Hansika Motwani
Hansika Motwani
Hansika Motwani is an Indian actress and a former child actress. She has worked in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada films.-Early life:Hansika Motwani was born in Mangalore, India. Her father Pradeep Motwani is a businessman, and her mother is Seema Motwani, a dermatologist...
was originally signed to play the heroine but was replaced by Nikeesha Patel
Nikeesha Patel
Nikeesha Patel is a British Indian model and film actress. She debuted in 2010 Telugu film Puli, directed by S. J. Suryaah and starring Pawan Kalyan.-Early life and career:...
, who made her acting debut in this film. The film was sent to the censor board on September 4 and received an A certificate.
Filming
The movie was shot in various parts of Andhra PradeshAndhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
and Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
, as well as in Malaysia, Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
and Dubai
Dubai
Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates . The emirate is located south of the Persian Gulf on the Arabian Peninsula and has the largest population with the second-largest land territory by area of all the emirates, after Abu Dhabi...
. The filming was almost completed by May 2010, but the songs were shot from May 18 onwards only.
Title
The movie was originally titled "Komaram Puli". "Komaram" was taken from the surname of the GondGondi people
The Gondi, Goindi or Gond people are people in central India, spread over the states of Madhya Pradesh, eastern Maharashtra , Chhattisgarh, northern Andhra Pradesh, and Western Orissa. With over four million people, they are the largest tribe in Central India.The Gondi language is related to...
martyr Komaram Bheem
Komaram Bheem
Komaram Bheem is a tribal leader who fought against the erstwhile Asaf Jahi Dynasty for the liberation of Hyderabad State.On December 17, 2009, it was announced that a statue of Bheem would be installed in Hyderabad....
, who fought against the erstwhile Asaf Jahi dynasty for the liberation of Hyderabad State
Hyderabad State
-After Indian independence :When India gained independence in 1947 and Pakistan came into existence in 1947, the British left the local rulers of the princely states the choice of whether to join one of the new dominions or to remain independent...
. However, following the objections by Komaram Sony Rao, grandson of Komaram Bheem, and also by a section of Telangana Joint Action Committee activists who called for a boycott of the film, the movie was renamed with title "Puli" on the second day of its release. The soundtrack album is titled "Komaram Puli".
Release and reception
The film was released worldwide with 600 prints in 1000 theatres, a record of sorts for a Telugu film. The film's release faced a minor roadblock in the form of its title.The film critic from NDTV
NDTV
NDTV is an Indian commercial broadcasting television network founded in 1988. It was founded by Prannoy Roy, an eminent journalist and current chairman and director of NDTV Group. NDTV currently has more than 1,000 employees producing news from over twenty locations in India...
warned the audience by saying "watch the film at your own risk. Its a big-budget film with a solid casting. It has got some extraordinarily directed action scenes." The background score by A. R. Rahman
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and philanthropist. Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and...
and camerawork by Binod Pradhan
Binod Pradhan
Binod Pradhan is an acclaimed Indian cinematographer whose creative visuals and cutting-edge imagery have left their mark on Indian cinema. Some his award-winning works include 1942 A Love Story, Devdas, Rang De Basanti, Mission Kashmir, Munna Bhai M.B.B.S...
were appreciated and many critics rated them as the highlight of the movie. It was thought to be a failure at the box office.
The makers of the film re-edited it due to very poor reviews and re-released the shortened version on 15 September 2010. The final outcome however was disappointing. The film was declared as a flop at the box office.
Soundtrack
The film features a soundtrack consisting of 6 songs composed by A. R. RahmanA. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman is an Indian composer, singer-songwriter, record producer, musician, and philanthropist. Described as the world's most prominent and prolific film composer by Time, his works are notable for integrating eastern classical music with electronic music sounds, world music genres and...
and lyrics penned by Chandrabose. The highly anticipated soundtrack album was released on 11 July 2010 by Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
. The release rights of the album was purchased by Sony Music for 2 crores. The audio was launched by K Rosaiah, Rahman and his mother Kareema Begum in a function held at H.I.C.C Novotel
Novotel
Novotel is a mid-scale hotel brand within the Accor group. Novotel has close to 400 hotels and resorts in 60 countries, situated in the business districts and tourist destinations of major international cities.-History:...
, Hyderabad. The function was attended by K Rosaiah, S. J. Suryaah
S. J. Suryaah
S. Justin Selvaraj is an Indian film director, writer, actor, and producer in Kollywood, the Tamil film industry. His screen name is S. J. Surya.- Film career :...
, Allu Aravind, Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan ; is an Indian film Actor, Director, Screenwriter and Action choreographer in Telugu cinema...
, Nikeesha Patel
Nikeesha Patel
Nikeesha Patel is a British Indian model and film actress. She debuted in 2010 Telugu film Puli, directed by S. J. Suryaah and starring Pawan Kalyan.-Early life and career:...
, Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran
Shriya Saran , also known by the mononym Shriya, is an Indian film actress and model. She has worked in several of the regional industries of Indian cinema, having acted in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi language films, as well as a few films in English, Malayalam and Kannada...
, A. R. Rahman, Chandrabose, Anand Sai
Anand Sai
*Anand Sai is a famous Indian art director who works for Telugu films. His debut venture was Pawan Kalyan's Tholi Prema. He is the son of senior art director B.Chellam, who has worked with over 700 films.- Filmography :Badrinath...
, Singanamala Ramesh, S. R. Murthy and many others. The soundtrack got overwhelming biggest disaster and became a hot seller. The audio sales reached a total of 3 lakhs of CDs in the first three days, which is an all-time record in Telugu film history..
The picturisation of the songs was also noted. Two songs were choreographed by Bollywood choreographer Ahmed Khan
Ahmed Khan (choreographer)
Ahmed Khan is an Indian choreographer, producer, actor, director and writer. Khan began as a child actor playing small roles in films like Raakh. He played an orphan boy in his debut film, Mr. India and worked as choreographer's assistant in Anjaam. He choreographed for films such as Rangeela,...
. The songs he choreographed were "Power Star" (Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan
Pawan Kalyan ; is an Indian film Actor, Director, Screenwriter and Action choreographer in Telugu cinema...
's introduction song) and "Dochey" (an item number
Item number
An item number or an item song, in Indian cinema, is a musical performance that has little to do with the film in which it appears, but is presented to showcase beautiful dancing women in very revealing clothes, to lend support to the marketability of the film...
featuring Shriya Saran). The songs were filmed in two schedules at Annapurna Studios beginning from May 18. Of the six songs written for the film, four songs were directly included in the film while the remaining two served as background songs. Lyricist Chandrabose collaborated with Rahman for the first time through this film. He took almost three months to write the song "Amma Thale", while all it took to write the song "Maaralente" was 90 minutes. A. R. Rahman's original score also received critical praise. Rahman collaborated with artists from three European countries to re-record the background score.