Actor, producer and entrepreneur, Rana Daggubati enjoys a very unique fandom from across the world. Perhaps best known as the vicious antagonist ‘Bhallaladeva’ from the record-breaking Indian franchise, Baahubali, Rana, however, began his mainstream film career as the producer of the National Award-winning film Bommalata (2004).In 2005, he set up Spirit Media, a company that specialized in VFX and animation. He thus went on work on over 70 films as a VFX co-coordinator.In 2010, he marked his acting debut with Leader, which established him as a bankable actor in the Telugu film industry. He then went on to foray into Hindi cinema, or the popular Bollywood, with Dum Maaro Dum. He subsequently acted in several Telugu and Hindi films, before his role as the lead antogonist in the 2015 film, Baahubali: The Beginning, catapulted him to new heights of stardom. The sequel, Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, became the first Indian film to hit the 1000-crore mark in box office collections. The phenomenal success of the film wasn’t limited to the BO numbers, but has grown into a universe much larger than cinema, with games, manga comics, merchandising and more still in high demand.On the back of the phenomenal success of the Baahubali franchise, Rana went to earn another first with India’s first underwater film, The Ghazi Attack, which was a commercial success and garnered him another prestigious National Award.Known for his off-beaten-path approach to stories, Rana’s repertoire is an interesting mix of everything from playing an upright Naval officer to fantastical villain. Also a dubbing artiste, Rana is the voice behind the super villain Thanos in the Telugu Avengers version.Hailing from a family of filmmakers and storytellers, Rana Daggubati also oversees the operations of one of South India’s leading production houses, Suresh Productions. When he is not busy shooting, Rana Daggubati is a thorough entrepreneur and businessman who has business interests spread across the spectrum of media an entertainment.In 2018, Rana entered into a joint venture with one of India’s leading entertainment agencies, Kwan Entertainment. He also partnered with Anthill Ventures, an investment and scaling platform for early growth stage start-ups, to launch Anthill Studio, a start-up accelerator program focused on technologies such as AI, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Blockchain, Visual Effects (VFX), Cloud Rendering, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data and Analytics. A comic book geek, Rana also bought a stake in the one of India’s leading comic book companies, Amar Chitra Katha in 2019.While his passions, interests and endeavors many seem varied, there is one thread that seems to define everything that drives Rana Daggubati – the power and glory of storytelling – a love that he has confessed to many times.
Rana Daggubati
Movies
Dum Maaro Dum
On his way to Griffin University in the U.S., Goa-based Lawrence Eduardo Gomes is arrested and held at the airport by a corrupt ACP Vishnu Kamath as his baggage concealed drugs. While attempts by Lorry and others are made to clear Lawrence’s name, Vishnu continues his investigation aided by Inspectors…
Fun Facts
Cousin of Naga Chaitanya Akkineni and son of D. Suresh Babu.
Actor Daggubati Venkatesh is his uncle.
Quotes
Art does not have boundaries. Ultimately what the story is will stand out. So I hope for no boundaries to exist due to language
Cinema is a footprint in history. It's there forever.
I don't have any aspirations of becoming a big superstar. I can continue talking about AR and technology for hours on end as I can talk about the character I am working on. Movies and storytelling drive me. I don't have to be an actor to be a part of storytelling. I could do it with someone else as the actor and still enjoy it. There are so many stories to tell in so many different ways. Being famous is a job; telling stories is what I do.
Life itself is grey, it's not black or white. You can play with the complexities, and that becomes the fun part about going to the set every day. Adapting to the new characteristics, reviewing the new person - it's really what makes an actor, and that's really the joy that I get when I play characters that are very complex.
Getting out of a character is emotionally taxing. You get used to being a person on camera and when you move on, the character remains with you for a long time.