Rana Daggubati photographed at a studio in Mumbai.
Rana Daggubati comes from a noted film family and may be a star down south, but he said his innings in the Hindi film world has not turned out to be exceptionally great. So, the tall and handsome actor is using his acting talent judiciously by choosing content that transcends languages.
"It has been an extremely big learning," the
Dum Maaro Dum actor told IANS when asked to recount his Bollywood journey.
"I'm not exceptionally happy about how I'm moving in Hindi films, and it's also what made me realise that I can't be everywhere at once. Now, I'm focussing on content that can travel across languages. It will take time and won't be easy, but I will be at it," added the 30-year-old actor, who has in the past featured in Bollywood films like
Dum Maaro Dum,
Department and
Baby.
Mr Daggubati's forthcoming release
Baahubali, a multilingual project directed by S S Rajamouli is an example of his motive.
The epic film, the Hindi theatrical rights of which have been bought by Bollywood's ace filmmaker Karan Johar, will be released in several languages including Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, English, French and more foreign languages.
It was the
Department actor who enticed director-producer Karan Johar into being a part of
Baahubali.
"Right from the time we started the film, I knew we needed a right presenter for it in Hindi. And the first person that came into my mind was Karan Johar, as I knew him. I went to him not with any footage, but with images of what we had shot, and told him the story. He then stepped in and everything fell in place," said Mr Daggubati.
Featuring actors Prabhas Varma, Anushka Shetty and Tamannaah Bhatia in the lead roles,
Baahubali is scheduled to release on July 10.
Talking about how they recreated an era that's almost 1,000 years old and how the film is going to attract audience in times when more realistic stories are resonating with the audience, the
Baahubali star said, "Well, cinema is a larger than life experience and we can say this with the success of Hollywood films like
300 and
Gladiator, and others, which were dubbed and did so well in India."
"Audiences always want a larger than life visual and it needed the right filmmaker to make it," he added, referring to
Baahubali director S S Rajamouli.
The
Baby actor who is the grandson of late filmmaker D Ramanaidu and son of filmmaker Suresh Babu, said some parts of the film were indeed difficult to shoot.
"The problem was not Telugu, but the ancient Tamil that I had no idea about. The first day I couldn't get past reading even a line. But then dialogue writer Madan Karky, used to write it, tape it and then send it to me and that's how I got it," he said.
With three "extensive years" spent on
Baahubali, Mr Daggubati agreed that whether the film is a success or failure will definitely affect him.
"But whatever the result will be, I would always be proud that I was a part of this epic," said the
Department actor, who found fame in the southern film industry with hits like
Leader and
Krishnam Vande Jagathgurum.