Rana Daggubati's Double Life

As an actor, he’s gained critical, audience and commercial acclaim, but few know that Daggubati is also a producer and entrepreneur, a creative force who has been enriching multiple film industries with his expertise over almost a decade.

- Arnesh Ghose

Because of the enduring imagery of Baahubali’s Bhallaldeva, it’s somewhat strange to encounter Rana Daggubati the human being. To begin with, he isn’t packing the mountains of muscle he had gained for the films. Daggubati is playing Chandrababu Naidu in the new NT Rama Rao biopic, and thus has a reed-slim frame, a gaunt face and a glorious beard. He may not look evil any more, but the man’s still intimidating.

For the uninitiated (which would be a lot of us, because he doesn’t beat his own drum), Rana Daggubati is much more than a successful actor. He’s been selective as an actor (14 films in 8 years), but has been extremely busy in other capacities. As the grandson of the illustrious film maker Dr. D. Ramanaidu, and son of producer. Suresh Babu, Daggubati sits at the head of the family’s Ramanaidu Studios, one of India’s largest integrated production houses, offering production, distribution, exhibition and studio infrastructure for cinema, TV and digital platforms.

He also started his own production company, Spirit Media, before becoming an actor, and produced National Award winning films. A self-confessed geek, he owns a technology company, Anthill Studios, which invests in start-ups in the VFX, augmented reality and AI space, like AppStar (augmented reality), LDM (a visual effects studio based in London) and Gamezop (a game development studio), among others. He is particularly heavily invested in VFX, and also owns the south Indian arm of Kwan, the celebrity management and services company that also deals in film acquisition, licensing and digital activations.