Director Puri Jagannadh burst onto Telugu cinema with the 2000 film Badri starring Pawan Kalyan in the lead. The film also heralded a new age character in Telugu cinema full of arrogance and complete self belief that seeks to get or achieve whatever it wants if it feels right and thinks there is no mistake in it or harms others. Soon with films like Idiot and Pokiri, this characterization became a trade mark of the director so much so that few films ran purely on this characterization.
So what is the inspiration for the director to get such characterization for his heroes? It is none other than Mani Ratnam’s masterpiece Nayakudu. Director Puri Jagannadh says that the character of Velu Nayakar, played by Kamal Haasan in the film was the inspiration behind his hero characterization. The director saw the film only twice but its effect has lasted for a lifetime and shaped up his heroes feels the director. And thus the legend of Nayakudu reveals another one of its followers.
