Problems refuse to die down between Tollywood director Puri Jagannadh and Kaali Sudheer. In April, Puri had registered a case at the Jubilee Hills police station against three distributors – Kaali Sudheer, Mutyala Ramdas and Abhishek — claiming that they had tried to extort money from him stating that they had suffered financial losses from his recent release Loafer.
They had allegedly manhandled him and threatened him with dire consequences, Puri complained. The accused were shocked at the complaint because they did nothing of that sort. Puri left for Bangkok soon after and was incommunicado.
Weeks later, Puri withdrew the complaint and apologised to Mutyala Ramdas and Abhishek. Sudheer wasn’t in town then so Puri didn’t meet him. Sudheer wants to go ahead with the defamation case.
“I am going ahead as it’s an insult to my character. Once the case is withdrawn from the Jubilee Hills police station, I will file a criminal defamation case in the High Court against him. All the documents have been filed and it’s just a procedural delay.”
Has Puri been informed? Sudheer replies, “How does it matter? I am wondering how he could do this. Personally, I don’t know him at all. I am not his friend nor have I ever partied with him.”
Are his other two partners supporting him? “Even if Abhishek and Ramdass don’t support me, I need to stand up for what’s right. I have faith in the Indian judicial system and I know I will get justice,” says Sudheer.
In the industry no one likes to stick their neck out and take action against an errant, well placed filmmaker. Sudheer says, “What he did is a great injury to my personal character.”
Talking about the trend of distributors demanding that actors and producers refund money when a film flops, Sudheer says, “There is no legal binding on an actor or actress nor does a distributor have the right to ask the actor.”
The controversy
Puri Jagannadh had filed a case against three distributors, Muthyala Ramadasu, Sudheer and Abhishek, alleging that they assaulted, harassed and blackmailed him. The distributors, however, claimed that they were not in the city when the alleged incident took place. They had invested '10 crore in his film and had suffered losses.
Puri’s wayward ways
Despite several attempts, Puri was unreachable. The last few years haven’t been very fruitful for a director of his calibre. Industry sources blame his whimsical behaviour for his downslide.
A few examples
Puri was supposed to direct Chiranjeevi’s 150th film, but was later dropped because Chiranjeevi wasn’t sure of his committment to the project.
A Telugu-Kannada bilingual titled Rogue with newcomer Ishaan was supposed to release in March. But shooting stopped midway for unknown reasons. Puri is now shooting with Nandamuri Kalyan Ram.
On the 10th anniversary of Pokiri, Puri had announced that his next film would be with Mahesh Babu, titled Jana Gana Mana. Mahesh can’t do the film anytime soon, and the announcement showed the director’s desperation to simply announce a film with a big star. The director has also been hoping for a project with Jr NTR.
A film with Nithiin was shelved because of Charmme’s interference — Puri claims she’s a close friend. Later Puri did the same project with Varun Tej as Loafer and it bombed.
The director had also said that he would make Hindi films with Sanjay Dutt and Amitabh Bachchan. Nothing materialised till date.
Puri recently replaced 20 of his office staff who were said to be leaking information about actress Charmme, who reportedly took over his financial dealings.
