Panjaa

About the film

Panjaa (transl. Claw) is a 2011 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film directed by Vishnuvardhan (in his Telugu film directorial debut), produced by Arka Media Works and Sanghamitra Art Productions. The film stars Pawan Kalyan, Sarah-Jane Dias, Anjali Lavania, Jackie Shroff, Adivi Sesh, Atul Kulkarni, Sampath Raj, Subbaraju and Tanikella Bharani. The plot centers around Jai, a loyal henchman for a gangster, who is forced to go on the run after a botched mission leads him to kill his boss's son in response to a violent atrocity.

The film features music scored by Yuvan Shankar Raja and cinematography by P. S. Vinod. Principal photography of the film commenced on 6 May 2011. The filming took place primarily at Kolkata, Pollachi, Karaikudi, Vagamon and Palasa.

Plot

Jai is a Kolkata-based hitman working for a don named Bhagavan, and they together share a business rivalry with Kulkarni. Bhagavan's psychotic son, Munna, returns to India after 8 years.

Apart from his gangster life, Jai also owns a nursery where he raises a variety of plants along with his friend, Chotu. He also appoints a caretaker for the nursery, Sandhya. He soon starts hanging out frequently with Sandhya trying to keep his criminal life from her as he develops feelings for her. One day, Munna mistreats his father's accountant and confidant, Sabapathy, and humiliates him by urinating on him in front of the latter's neighbors. Receiving no support from Bhagavan, Sabapathy joins Kulkarni's gang, making Bhagavan order Jai to kill him. As per the plan, Jai kidnaps Rahul, the son of Kulkarni's younger brother, Sampath. He asks Guruvayya to hold Rahul hostage at a club until he is back with Sabapathy. He demands a meeting with Sabapathy in exchange for Rahul's freedom. Sabapathy tells him that he switched sides not to retaliate, but to protect himself. Munna, on the other hand, visits the club and is attracted to the club dancer, Jhanvi, who is also Jai's childhood friend, and inquires about her in the club. Learning from Guruvayya that she loves Jai, Munna is enraged and kills Rahul after he teases him for being an incel and kills Kulkarni's henchman, who came to pick up Rahul.

When Sampath and Kulkarni receive no response from Guruvayya, Jai tries to escape, and a chase ensues. He manages to flee but is shocked to learn of Rahul's death. Munna finds Jahnavi at Jai's house and beats her to death. Jai arrives and gets into a fight with Munna. Guruvayya sees Jai kill Munna and reports him to Bhagavan. Jai decides to tell Bhagavan the reason behind killing Munna, and as he is on his way, he is attacked by Bhagavan's men, as per his orders. Following a gunfight, Jai escapes while Bhagavan vows to seek revenge for Munna's death. Jai escapes to Palasa, where he stays at Sandhya's house. On the other hand, the rivalry between Bhagavan and Kulkarni intensifies after Jai's exit as Bhagavan loses power and his trusted men join hands with Kulkarni. Bhagavan learns about Jai's nursery he used to run with the help of Chotu, and gets it destroyed by his men.

Production

In November 2010, sources reported that director Vishnuvardhan would direct a film featuring Pawan Kalyan in the lead role, to be produced by Neelima Nagesh and Shobu Yarlagadda. Neelima, in an interview, stated that she was a big fan of Pawan Kalyan. Vishnnuvardhan, following the release of his 2009 film Sarvam, which fared poorly at the box office, had been working on two scripts – the other one being the prequel to the 2007 version of Billa – but was unable to start either project due to unavailable dates of Pawan Kalyan and Ajith Kumar. He had planned to shoot both projects simultaneously from March 2011 onwards, but since that was not possible, he was forced to drop one of the projects, with Vishnuvardhan eventually deciding to direct this film. Abburi Ravi was roped in to write the dialogues, while the screenplay was provided by Rahul Koda.

Former Miss India Sarah-Jane Dias was signed for one of the two female lead characters, making her Telugu film debut. Jiah Khan and Shazahn Padamsee, who starred in Orange opposite Ram Charan Tej, were considered for the other female role. However, eventually Mumbai-based model Anjali Lavania, best known for her appearances in the Kingfisher calendar and several other advertisements, was finalised for the second character. Director-actor Sesh Adivi was roped in for an antagonist role. Yuvan Shankar Raja and A. Sreekar Prasad, Vishnuvardhan's norm associates, were signed to score the music and handle the editing department, respectively, while P. S. Vinod was selected as the cinematographer in place of Nirav Shah who had worked on Vishnuvardhan's previous projects. Action sequences were choreographed by Sham Kaushal, a noted stunt co-ordinator in Bollywood films, while Sunil Babu was chosen as the art director. Vishnuvardhan's wife, Anu Vardhan, worked as the costume designer.

Principal photography was expected to start from 15 April 2011, with the scenes during the first schedule being shot in Kolkata, West Bengal. Filming eventually began on 6 May in Kolkata, where the major part of the film was shot. The Kolkata schedule was completed by late June 2011, and the following month, filming was held in Pollachi, Tamil Nadu, which was followed by schedules in Karaikudi, Tamil Nadu and across Kerala. In Kerala, the crew shot for five days at the Vagamon hill station, located 1,100 metres above sea level. A song sequence featuring Pawan Kalyan and Sarah Jane was shot at the Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad in September under the choreography of Firoz Khan. From 10 October, the last song picturised on Anjali Lavania was canned in a Hyderabad studio. Anjali performed belly dance in the song, which was choreographed by Geeta Kapoor, best known for her work in the song Sheila Ki Jawani from the Hindi film Tees Maar Khan.

Key details