Director Puri Jagannadh’s last film, Liger, starring Vijay Deverakonda and Ananya Panday, was released in 2022 and was a massive failure. While promoting his upcoming film, Double iSmart, the director revealed that he got a call from director SS Rajamouli’s father, writer Vijayendra Prasad, after his film failed.

‘He asked me for a favour’

Puri shared that Vijayendra called him a week after Liger ‘released and flopped’. He said, “I received a call from Vijayendra Prasad garu. He never called me, and I was surprised to receive a call from him. He asked me for a favour. His son is Rajamouli, so I didn’t know what he would want from me.”

It turns out that the writer asked Puri to share his scripts with him before making a film the next time. “He said, I can’t see directors like you fail due to small mistakes and asked me to share my scripts with him the next time. I was very emotional after the call because I respect him a lot. I did not share the Double iSmart script with him before making it. So, I hope he liked it,” said Puri.

The Liger debacle

For the unversed, Liger was mounted on a massive scale and was promoted as Vijay’s debut in Bollywood and Ananya’s debut in Tollywood. The film tells the story of an MMA fighter who suffers from a stutter. Ramya Krishnan, Ronit Roy and Mike Tyson also featured in important roles in the film.

Vijay and Ananya travelled all over the country promoting the film. Vijay even underwent a physical transformation for the film, buffing up to play the role and taking special training. Despite it all, the film was panned by critics and the audience. It fared dismally at the box office, causing distributors to protest.

About Double iSmart

Puri will now release the sequel to his 2019 film iSmart Shankar titled Double iSmart. The film stars Ram Pothineni, Kavya Thapar and Sanjay Dutt in lead roles. It will clash with Harish Shankar’s Ravi Teja-starrer Mr Bachchan at the box office on August 15.