The film stars Mahesh Babu, Samantha, Prakash Raj, and Sonu Sood alongside Brahmanandam who played a supporting role.

The film revolves around Ajay Kumar (Babu), a police officer and son of ex-MLA Shankar Narayana (Raj), who awakes from coma, but his health remains perilous.

S. Thaman composed the music and M. R. Varma edited the film, while K. V. Guhan handled the cinematography after Prasad Murella left the project mid-way.

[3][4] It was dubbed in Hindi as The Real Tiger, Tamil as Athiradi Vettai and Malayalam as Choodan, Odia as Dookudu, and Kannada as Police Power.

When he heads to Turkey in an undercover operation, he meets Prashanthi, the daughter of Ajay's senior police officer and soon falls in love with her.

When Shankar comes out of the coma, the doctors who treated him advise his family that his life is at risk if he encounters or hears anything upsetting, disturbing, or shocking.

On the other hand, aspiring actors Bokka Venkata Rao and Mallesh Goud are tricked by Ajay with a real estate business deal to exploit his criminal nexus.

It later dawned upon us that the heavy dose backdrop would not only not suit the span of the hero but also would not have scope for usual Srinu Vaitla elements like comedy.

[8] Regarding the same, Vaitla said "I had made family dramas with Prasad before but in Dookudu, the demand increased from my side and we couldn't get in sync with each other.

[citation needed] Regarding the limited role of Samantha, Vaitla clarified that a lot depended on the film's subject and it was done mainly to develop the chemistry between the lead pair.

[13] Principal photography began on 22 October 2010 in Turkey[citation needed] where a few action sequences and a song on Babu and Samantha were shot.

[citation needed] Scenes featuring Babu, Samantha and Deepthi were shot at Levis showroom in Banjara Hills of Hyderabad and the schedule ended on 29 January 2011.

[citation needed] Some scenes were shot in a central jail set erected in Ramoji Film City with which the Hyderabad schedule was completed in mid May 2011.

[18] Key scenes featuring Babu, Brahmanandam, M. S. Narayana and others were shot in a private apartment in Somajiguda in mid July 2011.

[citation needed] A special set was erected at Ramoji Film City for the shoot of the item number on Babu and Melton which began on 6 September 2011.

And, the scene where the protagonist lies to his father about few things without knowing that the latter is aware of the drama is inspired from the climax of Good Bye, Lenin!.

[3] A reviewer from Sify felt that some of the scenes and characters are inspired by Babu's previous films Athadu (2005) and Pokiri (2006) apart from the Hindi Patiala House (2011).

[20] According to K. Moti Gokulsing and Wimal Dissanayake, authors of the book Routledge Handbook of Indian Cinemas, the parodies too received positive response.

[citation needed] Melton's look in the item number was unveiled after the completion of the film's shoot and those stills received positive response.

[citation needed] In an interview to Karthik Pasupulate of The Times of India, Anil Sunkara said "When the pre-release hype was hitting a fever pitch, we (producers) toured all over the state, meeting fan associations and telling them that it was a family entertainer, and distributing merchandise like stickers, badges and ribbons".

[24] A thanksgiving tour began in Vijayawada where Vaitla, Anil and comedian Siva Reddy promoted the film at Hotel Mid City after which they went to Eluru.

[32] Apart from them, the film released in countries like Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia, Ireland and United Kingdom while the producers received calls from Nairobi for distribution rights.

[33] The film was shot at Vikarabad railway station on 31 July 2011 after seeking necessary permission to shoot till 5:00 pm with police security.

They entered theatres at Vikarabad, Parigi, Tandoor, Chevella and Shamshabad and asked the managements not to screen the film but were dispersed by the police.

Suresh Kavirayani of The Times of India rated it 4 out of 5 and wrote "Dookudu is a typical Srinu Vytla film with a generous sprinkling of comedy.

This movie comes as a blessing for not just Mahesh Babu, but also for Tollywood, which is badly in need of a hit, after the recent spate of box office debacles.

[39] Sify called the film "entertaining" and wrote "Despite the drawbacks, Dookudu holds the power to lure the crowds, with its commercial values.

"[40] In contrast, B. V. S. Prakash of Deccan Chronicle rated the film 3 out of 5 and wrote "Although, it is a tale of an honest cop who is on the trail of a dreaded don, director Sinu Vaitla relies on a band of comedians like Brahmanandam and M.S.

[54][55] After the film's gross crossed ₹1 billion, Income Tax Department officials conducted a raid on the Jubilee Hills residence of Babu as he was rumoured to get a remuneration of more than ₹120 million for his next projects.

[60] The film was also dubbed into Hindi as The Real Tiger in 2012[61] and into Odia under the same title as the original Telugu version sometime in 2018 at the earliest, plus Kannada as Police Power in 2021, despite the existence of a remake in that language.