Pokiri (transl. Rogue) is a 2006 Indian Telugu-language action thriller film written and directed by Puri Jagannadh. The film was produced by Jagannadh and Manjula Ghattamaneni by their respective production companies Vaishno Academy and Indira Productions. The film stars Mahesh Babu, Ileana D'Cruz, Prakash Raj, Nassar, Ashish Vidyarthi and Sayaji Shinde. In the film, a local goon whose killer instincts earns him not only his girlfriend's disapproval and a corrupt cop's enmity, but also the attention of a wanted crime boss.

The film was made on a budget of around ₹12 crore. principal photography commenced in November 2005 and lasted until April 2006. Most of the film was shot in and around Hyderabad and Chennai, except for a song which was shot at the province of Phuket in Thailand and the city of Bangkok. Shyam K. Naidu was the film's cinematographer, and it was edited by Marthand K. Venkatesh. The soundtrack and film score were composed by Mani Sharma.

Pokiri was released on 28 April 2006. The film grossed over ₹70 crore worldwide in its initial theatrical run and was declared an Industry Hit while remaining as the highest-grossing Telugu film for three years until it was surpassed by Magadheera in 2009. The film was also one of the fourteen southern Indian films to be screened at the International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) Film festival, along with V. V. Vinayak's Tagore in 2006. The film won five Nandi Awards and two Filmfare Awards. It was remade in Tamil as Pokkiri (2007), in Hindi as Wanted (2009), in Kannada as Porki (2010).

In Hyderabad, two rival mafia gangs headed by Dubai-based gangster Ali Bhai and Narayana resort to criminal activities such as extortion, contract killings, and coercion to take control of the city. Newly appointed Deputy Commissioner Sayyad Mohammad Pasha Qadri focuses on making the city safer by working on arresting all of them. Pandu, a thug working for money and living in Hyderabad along with his friends, is hired by Narayana to beat up Ali Bhai's henchman Mallesh. Pandu later joins Ali Bhai's gang after being offered money to join. Pandu falls in love with Shruthi, an aerobics teacher, who rejects his advances. Shruthi lives with her widowed mother and brother and her neighbor Brahmi, a software engineer who pesters her to marry him. Corrupt SI Pasupathy, who works for Ali Bhai, lusts after Shruthi. He is determined to make her his mistress, undeterred by Sruthi's and her mother's multiple rejections. After killing Narayana's henchman, Pandu is confronted by Pasupathy and is able to prevent Shruthi from being molested. Shruthi meets him the next day to thank him, and starts to fall in love with Pandu after spending sometime with him. Shruthi tells Pandu about Pasupathy forcing her to be his mistress which angers Pandu.

After being tipped off by Brahmi, Pasupathy confronts Pandu who casually reveals his knowledge of Pasupathy's role in a constable's death during an encounter with a gangster, and warns him to stay away from Shruthi. To escape from Pasupathy's advances, Shruthi meets Pandu and proposes to him, but they're interrupted by an attack by Narayana's henchmen. Pandu brutally dispatches all of them, shocking Shruthi. After revealing his true colors, Pandu urges Shruthi to rethink her feelings. To ensure no decent family ever thinks of marrying her, Pasupathy arranges for some thugs to stage a mock sexual assault of Shruthi. Upon learning of this, an enraged Pandu beats up Pasupathy in a market without revealing himself, then anonymously warns him that if he ever finds out he was responsible, he'll kill him personally. Pandu is eventually tipped off when the same thugs try to molest Shruthi on a train, and brutally kills them. Shruthi eventually admits her love for Pandu despite his violent ways and the risk involved.

Meanwhile, Ali Bhai visits Hyderabad and assassinates Narayana, and meets Pandu to discuss the murder of a minister by blowing up children's balloons. Pandu rejects the plan as it would involve killing innocents. In the middle of their argument, the police raid the club and arrest Ali Bhai. Ali Bhai's gang members retaliate by kidnapping Qadri's daughter, drugging her and creating a lewd video of her which they threaten to release to the media if Ali Bhai is not released, forcing the embattled Qadri to release Ali Bhai, after which they release the video anyway, to Pandu's disgust. However, in her drugged state, Qadri's daughter inadvertently reveals that her father had placed an undercover officer as a mole in Ali Bhai's gang. With the help of Pasupathy, Ali Bhai finds out that the undercover IPS officer, Krishna Manohar, is the son of a retired Inspector Suryanarayana. Confronting Suryanarayana, Ali Bhai kills Pandu's friend and Suryanarayana's son, only for Suryanarayana to reveal that it was actually his adopted son, Ajay. Ali Bhai then kills Suryanarayana to lure the real Krishna Manohar. When Krishna Manohar actually turns up, everyone, especially Shruthi and Pasupathy are shocked to see that he is none other than Pandu. After Suryanarayana and Ajay's funeral, Pandu interrogates Pasupathy and has him call Ali Bhai to find out his location: Binny Mills. After having Pasupathy drive him there, Pandu proceeds to dispatch Ali Bhai's men one by one, and finally confronts Ali Bhai. Forcibly reminded of Qadri's warning about not meeting the right guy, Ali Bhai tries to reason with Pandu and attempts to kill him, only for Pandu to slice his throat, killing him. After calling Qadri to inform him that his daughter's safe, Pandu shocks Pasupathy by informing Qadri of his death. A confused Pasupathy draws his gun on him, but is shot dead by Pandu who reminds him that once he commits to anything, he won't even listen to himself, referencing the earlier threat he made to Pasupathy.

In 2004, after Andhrawala's commercial failure, its director Puri Jagannadh planned a film titled Sri Krishnudu from Surabhi Company starring Chiranjeevi in the lead role. He later decided that explaining the story to Chiranjeevi, talking him into accepting the role, and filming the movie, would be a long, tiring process. He chose instead to revive the script of Uttam Singh S/O Suryanarayana which he had written during the production of Badri (2000). He approached Pawan Kalyan to play the lead role, but he declined it. Later, he approached Ravi Teja who agreed to play the lead; Nagendra Babu was to produce the film. However, Teja was approached by Cheran, an award-winning director, to remake the 2004 Tamil film Autograph in Telugu. Teja was eager to be involved in the remake as he liked the original very much. As a result, the production Uttam Singh S/O Suryanarayana was temporarily shelved. Jagannadh meanwhile directed and produced 143 (2004). Teja had backed out of participating in it, citing scheduling conflicts with other existing commitments. Jagannadh wanted to experiment by casting Sonu Sood in the lead role, but this too failed to materialise.

On 3 November 2004, Jagannadh met Mahesh Babu at the Taj Hotel in Hyderabad to outline the film's plot. It told the story of Uttam Singh, an undercover police officer, infiltrating a mafia gang as a criminal, with the intention of killing its kingpin. Babu liked the script but suggested Jagannadh tweak the script's backdrop to suit the Telugu-speaking peoples' sensibilities. Jagannadh agreed and also replaced the existing title with Pokiri. Babu wanted the film's production to begin in 2005 allowing him to complete his current commitments. While he waited for Babu, Jagannadh directed Nagarjuna in Super (2005). While reworking the script, Jagannadh took inspiration from Marana Mrudangam (1988) and State Rowdy (1989). Pokiri was produced jointly by Jagannadh and Manjula Ghattamaneni's production companies, Vaishno Academy and Indira Productions respectively, on a budget of ₹10–12 crore.