Suri on Puneeth Rajkumar’s Jackie: The first report was that audiences did not like how we presented Appu sir

Jackie, directed by Duniya Suri, is one of the biggest hits in the late Puneeth Rajkumar’s filmography. The film had a 100-day run in theatres, and had a hard-hitting subject (human trafficking) at its core. While its success is widely celebrated, the truth, says Suri, is that initially audiences did not like the film.

Speaking to Newsfirst ahead of the re-release of Jackie on the occasion of Puneeth Rajkumar’s birth anniversary, Suri said that after the morning show on Day 1, the initial impression was that audiences were not happy that the filmmaker had not presented the actor in a stylish avatar. As Janakiram, aka Jackie, Puneeth was way too ‘local’, they thought. As someone who’d been following Puneeth’s career graph and film choices intently, the feedback for Jackie had Suri wondering if his judgement that such a story would suit the Power Star was wrong after all.

Jackie was a film that involved Satya Hegde as cinematographer, V Harikrishna’s music, while Yogaraj Bhat had written all of the songs. The crew was taken aback by the initial reviews that poured in. Of course, not long thereafter it all changed around and the reception to the film was phenomenal.

Jackie, which introduced Malayalam actress Bhavana to Kannada cinema, has a vast ensemble cast including Harshika Poonacha, Sumithra, Rangayana Raghu, Sampath Raj, Biradar, Ravi Kale, MS Umesh, Bullet Prakash, Mithra, Raju Thalikote, Shobharaj, Petrol Prasanna and Honnavalli Krishna, among others.

The film is being re-released by KRG Studios in association with PRK Productions. Karthik Gowda of KRG Studios had earlier told OTTplay that he was looking at giving the film a 100+ centre release on March 15, bookings for which have already opened. The morning show at the ‘main theatre’, Narthaki, is already sold out, with fans all set to celebrate the film in a grand fashion.