A CHANGED MAN

RANA DAGGUBATI LOOKS BACK ON HOW HIS ACTING AND ENTREPRENEURIAL JOURNEY HAS PANNED OUT OVER THE YEARS AND CONFESSES HOW HE HAS MADE LIFESTYLE CHANGES FOR HIS MARRIAGE AND HIS OWN HEALTH IN AN INTROSPECTIVE CANDID CONVERSATION WITH PROVOKE MAGAZINE

- Namita Gupta

Tall and handsome as always, the hulk of Tollywood has transformed into a new avatar now. He is leaner and looks even more fitter now, despite the health issues that he battled recently. His deep ferocious sometimes naughty eyes are still daunting yet sometimes mysterious and his bold voice is as charming as ever before. Rana Daggubati, who has made his mark in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films, was in Bengaluru for the launch of a wellness and IV clinic, that has presence in Hyderabad and Bengaluru, where he took out time for a one on one tête-à-tête.

Leader, Housefull 4, Dum Maaro Dum, Welcome to New York, Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, The Ghazi Attack, Nene Raju Nene Mantri, Kaadan, Rudhramadevi, Aranya, Baahubali series - The Beginning and The Conclusion, of course, besides many other movies, Rana Daggubati is not just a name to reckon with in the south Indian film industry, but a figure that is known nationally and even internationally. He has won many awards for his contribution to the film industry. Rana received the National Film Award for co-producing Bommalata A Bellyful of Dreams. He won the Filmfare best debutant male for his debut, Leader. He also won the Zee Cine Award for the Best Male Debutant for his debut in Bollywood, Dum Maro Dum in 2011, besides many other awards and recognitions.

When was that moment when you decided to enter the film industry?

It was a long time ago. I was running the visual effects facility before I joined the films. What made me enter was that there were very few who supported alternative story telling in the mainstream film industry at that time. I got to be an actor and tell a lot of those alternative mainstream ideas that I had. That time there were no other producers who were willing to take that risk, so I made that shift.