Rana Daggubati: Kantara is an extreme that I have never felt before

Rana Daggubati is extremely savvy in the business of cinema, and the choice of his projects depends on the years of experience he has garnered from all the film industries he has worked in across the country. In fact, Rana understands the movie-going crowd’s expectations of big-screen projects have changed. This is why he is picky about the theatrical releases he chooses to be a part of. He was last seen in Virata Parvam in Telugu and his last multi-lingual film had been Haathi Mera Saathi. Rana comments on his upcoming projects, the changing audience, the ever-changing dynamics of south cinema vs Bollywood, and the latest rage across the country — Kantara — at the 53rd International Film Festival of India.

Rana is currently looking through scripts but hasn’t found one that really works for him. The decision to take time with his next film comes from understanding the expectations of audiences since the country has opened up after multiple lockdowns due to the pandemic. His understanding of what really works on the big screen comes is also probably the reason why the actor is currently busy with a Netflix series.

Speaking of what will work in theatres, the actor explained, “Today, you want cinema that is very true and authentic to the genre. Once you come into the screen, you want to be moved out of the experience that you have in your real world. You want to forget all of it. So whatever genre that filmmaker is making the story, it needs to be extreme in a certain manner. It could be a thriller, it could be anything really, but it needs to be extreme in its narrative.”

So what of his Netflix series? Titled Rana Naidu, the show is an official adaptation of the hit English series Ray Donovan. The show also stars Rana’s uncle and Telugu superstar Venkatesh. The show will see Rana play the titular role, and he will be a fixer for Bollywood celebrities in the show. This is also the first time that Rana will be seen in a long-format series, and there is a lot of buzz surrounding the project. Speaking of how films such as RRR and Kantara have made way for content being dubbed in multiple languages for wider exposure, Rana also cited that platforms such as Netflix only expand on this. He said, “It has always been like a global phenomenon where films — like Disney — just dub it in multiple languages and platforms like Netflix. My agreement says 170 languages, and I said okay, great! So that is going to be the scale of things from now.”

Speaking of Bollywood, the general consensus is that things are not working out for recent releases. Why is there no resounding success despite a release such as Brahmastra? It is not lack of content either as Gangubai, among other films did bring audiences back to the big the screen. However, the films are not doing as well as they did before the pandemic set in. Commenting on this divide between the south content with hits such as RRR, Pushpa and Kantara, Rana said, “Every time there is a certain change in any industry, the guy who is leading the pack is the one to get hit first. I think Hindi cinema somewhere has been leading the entire industry in terms of music, creating enterprise and value. All of us in India know that an entertainment company is of value because Hindi cinema taught us that. And I think they are the closest to the change, so they are just taking a little longer. Ultimately, it is a set of filmmakers coming out to tell a story.”

Speaking of possible reasons why other language content has come to the fore, the Baahubali star said, “Earlier Hindi was the large region that took away a lot of space, today because of the originality in terms of what content we are able to bring and the distribution mechanism that has become easier and easier, the regions have really broken down. What is India, it is Unity and Diversity. Each of the languages offers something new, unique, and diverse. Earlier, a spend of a pan-Indian film was a minimum spend of 10 or 15 crores in terms of publicity otherwise you won’t even reach anywhere. But I am seeing a Pushpa and Kantara that broke that whole myth very quickly. They spent what they spent in the regional language. The film was so good that the whole country got to watch it.”

Speaking of Kantara that continues to rage across the country, and is a resounding success, Rana expressed, “It’s a leaf of Indian culture that we have always seen — somewhere in photographs, and if you are from Karnataka you have heard a little more of it, and if you are from a different state then you have some other version of it in your own culture. To see it, altogether in a single film… Speaking of it, the same effect is coming into my body. For the last 20 minutes, I was in a theatre in Hyderabad and I felt this energy that just passed through my body while he was possessed in that manner. We all experienced it together. Now that’s an extreme that you have never felt before.”

He recalled an anecdote about his grandfather D Ramanaidu who produced a number of devotional films. He explained how he had heard his grandfather say, “Devudu choosinapudu poonakalu vochinayi (When you see God, you get goosebumps),” but only understood the emotion behind the statement when he watched Kantara.

Priyanka Sundar is a film journalist who covers films and series of different languages with a special focus on identity and gender politics.

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