Till now, no hero who worked with director Puri Jagannath had ever interfered in his work. He had already declared that he would never ever work with such heroes like Pawan Kalyan who tried to meddle with his script.
Since he had worked with new heroes and those whose films have flopped of late, Puri Jagannath has so far not faced any such issues. Even in the film he had done with Nandamuri Balakrishna, he did not face any hurdles.
But now, the situation is different. He is now working with new and popular hero Vijay Devarakonda. It is an open secret that Vijay tries to involve in every aspect of the film he is acting – right from making to promotion and ensures that he has his own brand on the film.
In fact, he was the whole and sole for films like “NOTA” and “Dear Comrade” which, of course, bombed at the box office. Even in hit films like Geetha Govindam, Taxi Wala and Arjun Reddy, he played a major role in script and other aspects of film making, a fact which was admitted by the directors of these films.
The problem now is whether a seasoned director like Puri Jagannath will give any such free hand to Vijay to involve in the film making. When some media friends raised the same issue with Puri recently, he gave a stunning reply.
Puri said he would accept suggestions from heroes as long as they do not change the original story line. In fact, he prefers taking advices and suggestions from heroes in this regard.
In this connection, Puri cited the example of one of his hit films “Sivamani” starring Nagarjuna. He told the media friends that Nagarjuna had suggested several changes for Sivamani and he had followed the same. Similarly, in his latest film “Ismart Shankar,” too, Puri had taken suggestions from hero Ram and made certain changes.
That does not mean, Puri will compromise with the original story. “So, as long as this concept is followed, I don’t think I will have any problem with Vijay Devarakonda. But I get irritated if somebody asks him to change the entire story,” Puri explained the reporters.
Vijay Devarakonda puts a condition to his directors well in advance that he would involve in the script work. Since the project for his film “Fighter” was finalised, it indicates that Puri Jagannath has accepted his condition. But whatever changes Vijay might suggest in the film, the final output will have only Puri Jagannath brand. And there is no doubt about it!