It’s been an eventful six months for director Puri Jagannadh, who has gone through an emotional roller-coaster ride that has taken him from being one of the most sought-after director in the industry, to someone who’s licking his wounds after receiving several body blows.
The Pokiri director finally broke his silence on megastar Chiranjeevi’s landmark 150th film, which he was supposed to direct. A couple of months ago, Puri bagged the coveted of directing Chiranjeevi in his 150th film. This was announced by the director himself, as well as by Ram Charan, the film’s producer. The film, tentatively titled Auto Johnny, was supposed to be officially launched on August 22, on the occasion of Chiranjeevi’s 60th birthday, but the actor-turned-politician said that he was unhappy with the second-half in the script narrated by Puri Jagannadh and invited other directors to come up with a script for his landmark.
A dejected Puri, however, said that Chiranjeevi did not express his displeasure with him and directly went to the media.
“I’m very disappointed that he (Chiranjeevi) told the media that he did not like my script, but chose not inform me. He never told me that he dint like Auto Johnny’s second half -- he merely said that he will tell me his opinion later. If I had known that he was not happy with it, I would’ve made necessary changes and tried to make it better,” said Puri, who celebrated his 49th birthday on Sunday.
Though Chiranjeevi was critical of Puri’s script, he has not shut the door yet and the Jyothi Lakshmi helmer still hopes to direct the megastar in his landmark film.
“Even now I’m ready to direct Chiranjeevi. Given the opportunity, I would love to do the film,” he said.