Telugu Directors React To Jagannath Puri’s Assault By Distributors

On  Thursday last week, Telugu cinema’s pre-eminent director Puri Jaganadh was allegedly roughed by distributors’ goons who barged into Puri’s office in Hyderabad demanding they be compensated for the losses suffered by the failure of Puri’s last film Loafer.

While Puri who is Bangkok scripting his next film refrained from comment his colleagues reacted sharply.

Vamshi Paidipally the director of the hit Oopiri says, “This is an insane act, and I don’t think this sets an example for anything .Such violence against a directors cuts into the creative enthusiasm of filmmaking.Every problem  can be sorted in any other way but  violence against a director for the failure of a film is absurd and unforgivable.I condemn this act very seriously.”

Ravikanth Perepu the director of this season’s surprise success Kshanam  is even more outraged by the attack. “I am deeply saddened to hear this. I think  violence has nothing to do with a film  success or failure. There is a way to deal certain things. And this is definitely not the solution. We’re trying to make movies to entertain audience. Sometimes we fail.”

Ravikanth is in dark as to what kind of financial arrangements existed between Puri and his distributors. “I don’t know what equations the makers and distributors share with each other. But I think Puri should be respected for his works which were blockbusters once upon a time and made a lot of money for the producers and distributors.Cinema is a form of art. Rowdy-ism isn’t.”