'I'll work in cinema till my last breath': Puri Jagannadh

Twenty is a significant number for director Puri Jagannadh. It was 20 years ago, on April 20, that his first film, Badri, was released. Pawan Kalyan was the lead actor in that film.

Puri went on to make trendsetters like Idiot, Pokiri, Desamuduru, Amma Nanna O Tamil Ammayi and the recent iSmart Shankar, and work with all the big stars, including Mahesh Babu, Prabhas, Jr NTR, Allu Arjun, Ravi Teja, Nagarjuna and Balakrishna, over the years.

The director has also made a few Hindi films like 'Buddah Hoga Tera Baap' starring Amitabh Bachchan. He is known for completing his films quickly.

In fact, after Dasari Narayana Rao, Puri is the one director of the present who completes films within the stipulated time. As wishes pour in on social media from celebs he has worked with, the director says he will work in cinema till his last breath.

“My Ismart I do and I will breath cinema till my death maaki kiri kiri (sic),” he said in reply to a tweet from Ram Pothineni.