Putting 'Liger' behind him, Puri Jagannadh 'planning' movie with Salman

Hyderabad, Dec 19: After 'Liger' disaster, Tollywood filmmaker Puri Jagannadh is said to be planning a film with Bollywood star Salman Khan.

There is buzz in the Telugu film industry circles that the director narrated a script to Salman and the latter evinced interest in the project. However, there is no official confirmation yet.

Reports of Puri Jagannadh and Salman joining hands have been doing rounds ever since the Bollywood star acted in 'Wanted', a remake of Tollywood filmmaker's 'Pokiri' starring Mahesh Babu.

Prabhu Deva directed 'Wanted', which was one of the successful movies of 2009. But there has been no collaboration between the two.

There's, however, been a fresh round of speculation about Puri Jagannadh approaching Salman with a script. Interestingly, they both acted in megastar Chiranjeevi's 'Godfather'. The filmmaker played the role of journalist while Salman appeared in an extended cameo.

If Puri and Salman team up for the proposed venture, this may help the Tollywood director to overcome the rough patch he has been going through in recent times. His recent movie 'Liger' starring Vijay Deverakonda bombed at the box-office.

The Hindi-Telugu movie which also had American boxer Mike Tyson in an extended cameo was reportedly produced with a budget of about Rs 125 crore. The film starring Ananya Panday in the female lead had mega shoots in Las Vegas and the makers had huge expectations from it.

The film not only bombed but director Puri Jagannadh, actor-turned-producer Charmme Kaur and Vijay Deverakonda were grilled by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for the suspected violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

They were reportedly questioned about the source of investment into 'Liger' which was released in August this year.

The ED officials said to have questioned the director and producer about the allegations that crores of rupees were invested into the making of the movie from foreign countries allegedly in violation of FEMA.

This is the second time that Puri Jagannadh and Charmee Kaur have appeared before the ED. Last year, the agency questioned them along with other film personalities regarding allegations of money in the drug case allegedly involving celebrities.

Earlier, the Special Investigation Team of the State Prohibition and Excise Department had also grilled them after registering a case in 2017.