Mahesh and Puri: What went wrong?

Puri Jagannadh doesn’t mince words.  Right or wrong, he speaks like a true disciple of Ram Gopal Varma.  His latest comments have predictably piqued Mahesh Babu’s fans, who have been trolling him on social media since Friday afternoon.  

How did this start…

Speaking in an interview, Puri said that Mahesh Babu doesn’t want to work with him.  “Mahesh’s fans want me to do ‘Jana Gana Mana’ with him.  But they don’t know one face.  Mahesh doesn’t work with an out-of-form director.  I like Mahesh’s fans more than Mahesh.  At least, his fans trust me,” Puri said, almost complained that Mahesh doesn’t have trust in him. He added that he will not work with Mahesh even if the latter is willing to work with him because he is a “man of character”.

Seeing it from Mahesh’s angle:

If you see it from the ‘Maharshi’ actor’s perspective, he is right.  Puri has literally not delivered a single novel film this decade with his own story.  ‘Temper’ was different not just because of him but also because of Vakkantham Vamsi’s story.  ‘ISM’, ‘Rogue’, ‘Paisaa Vasool’, ‘Mehbooba’ were pretty much dumb.  
 
Given this reality which actor in his right mind would work with a flop director?  Any actor will have to look after his own interests.  

The inflection point:

Back in 2016, Puri announced ‘Jana Gana Mana’ with Mahesh as the hero.  It means he must have done it only after Mahesh gave an informal nod.  Did Puri take the informal nod too seriously?  Mahesh didn’t do the film.  It was the inflection point in their relationship, which has soured since then.

At the ‘Maharshi’ event in May, Mahesh did an unintended mistake by omitting to mention ‘Pokiri’ among his outstanding films.  He took to Twitter the same night and corrected himself.  He didn’t just thank Puri but said that ‘Pokiri’ made him a superstar.  Even Puri retweeted this with delight.  

Everybody thought the Puri-Mahesh clash was much ado about nothing after this incident.  

‘I don’t care’ attitude

The success of ‘iSmart Shankar’ has brought out Puri’s ‘I don’t care’ attitude to the fore.  He should have done self-introspection before targeting Mahesh in the interview.  Didn’t Mahesh team up with Puri after a dud like ‘Andhrawala’, a flop like ‘143’ and a crazy experiment like ‘Super’?  Didn’t he do that again with ‘Businessman’ after ‘Golimaar’, ‘Ek Niranjan’, ‘Nenu Na Rakshasi’ and ‘Buddha Hoga Tera Baap’?  Back then, Puri at least had some form.  But in this decade, he has totally lost it.  Even ‘iSmart Shankar’ has not got a single scene that can suit a big star.  Mahesh Babu is not Ram Pothineni.  With his talent and character, Puri should stick to smaller stars.