Writer, director, producer and actor · Telugu cinema
Puri Jagannadh
Puri Jagannadh movies: 36 Telugu films on file (32 as writer, 31 as director, 10 as producer, 6 as actor), 2000–2024. Earliest on file: Badri (2000). Latest release: Double iSmart (15 August 2024).
- Films on file
- 36 (32 as writer, 31 as director, 10 as producer, 6 as actor)
- Years on file
- 2000–2024
- Selected films on file
- Liger, Pokiri, Businessman
- Record
- Q7261235 on Wikidata
Puri Jagannadh (born 28 September 1966; full name Petla “Puri” Jagannadh) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and producer who works mainly in Telugu cinema. He made his directing debut with Badri (2000), starring Pawan Kalyan, and gained recognition across India with Pokiri (2006), which premiered at the 7th IIFA Film Festival in Dubai and was remade in several Indian languages. His box office hits include Itlu Sravani Subramanyam, Appu, Idiot, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi, Sivamani, Desamuduru, Golimaar, Businessman, Iddarammayilatho, Heart Attack, Temper and iSmart Shankar.
Early life and family
Puri was born in Pithapuram, Andhra Pradesh; his native village is Bapiraju Kothapalli in Anakapalli district. He attended St. Theresa High School in Pedda Boddapalli and graduated from A. M. A. L. College, Anakapalle, in 1986. Of his younger brothers, Petla Uma Sankara Ganesh is a former MLA from Narsipatnam and Sairam Shankar is an actor. His cousin Parasuram assisted him on several films before becoming a director himself.
He married Lavanya in 1996, and they have a son, Akash, and a daughter, Pavithra. Akash made his debut as a lead in Mehbooba (2018).
Beginnings
Puri started out as an assistant director to Ram Gopal Varma, mainly on Telugu action films, and appeared briefly as Shiva’s friend in Shiva (1990). After Badri, he began a long partnership with Ravi Teja, casting him as the lead in Itlu Sravani Subramanyam (2001), a commercial hit that established the actor as a solo lead. Their later collaborations included Idiot (2002), a blockbuster, Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi (2003), another blockbuster, Neninthe (2008) and Devudu Chesina Manushulu (2012).
Beyond Telugu
He also worked in Kannada cinema, where he introduced Puneeth Rajkumar as a lead in Appu. His Hindi debut was Shart: The Challenge (2004), and in 2011 he directed Amitabh Bachchan in Bbuddah… Hoga Terra Baap, which was archived in the Oscar library.
Producer and later films
Puri produces films through his companies Puri Jagannadh Touring Talkies, Vaishno Academy and Puri Connects, the last in partnership with Charmme Kaur, and owns the music label Puri Sangeet. In 2022 he directed the action film Liger, produced by Dharma Productions and Charmme Kaur and starring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday, which disappointed at the box office.
On screen
He makes occasional appearances in films, including as a taxi driver in Businessman (2012), a biker in Temper (2015), a hotel customer in Ism (2016), himself in Ye Maaya Chesave (2010) and Govardhan in Godfather (2022).
Career on file
Puri Jagannadh has 36 Telugu films on file at Tollywood Desk, dated from 2000 to 2024: 32 films as writer, 31 films as director, ten films as producer and six films as actor. The earliest of them is Badri (2000), and the most recent release is Double iSmart (2024). Measured by how many Wikipedia language editions cover them, the best-known titles here are Liger (2022), Pokiri (2006) and Businessman (2012). Other recent releases on file are Ori Devuda (2022), Godfather (2022) and Romantic (2021).
Ram Pothineni and Satyadev Kancharana are the most frequent co-stars, each sharing two films with Puri Jagannadh. In the films Puri Jagannadh directed, Ali appears most often (14 films), ahead of Brahmanandam (13) and Prakash Raj (12). Music on ten of them is by Chakri, with Mani Sharma (6) and Anoop Rubens (4) next. Vaishno Academy produced five of them, more than any other banner on file. Across these films the credits on file name 5 different directors, 17 music directors and 98 other credited actors.
Runtime is on file for 28 of them; they average 146 minutes, and the longest is Pokiri at 168 minutes. 12 of them have a streaming (OTT) release noted on the site. By decade the list splits into 2000s (16), 2010s (15) and 2020s (5).
Figures come from the films on file at Tollywood Desk and change as records are added.