In an old interview, Puri Jagannadh said that he had not watched any of Pawan Kalyan's movies before he pitched him the story of 'Badri'. Ditto in the case of Mahesh Babu and Prabhas. The director revealed that Prabhas made him watch 'Varsham' when he approached him for 'Bujjigadu'.
Puri stopped watching movies after his favourite star, Amitabh Bachchan, started doing "bad" films in the 1980s. "After a point, I stopped watching not only his movies but also others' movies," Puri once said.
How does Puri keep himself abreast with current trends if he doesn't watch movies made by others? Perhaps, Puri corrected himself in recent years. But the damage of not watching movies for many years is irreversible.
Most of Puri's movies in the last 10 years are outdated. They come with a basic plot and the characterizations are more or less stuck at the same level. Had Puri been watching movies most often right from the beginning, he might not have made 'Liger' and other duds.
