RANA DAGGUBATI WANTS HIS MOVIES TO HAVE UNIVERSAL APPEAL

Rana Daggubati says he doesn’t want to be “regionspecific”; adds our cinema should be outstanding to cut across the international market

With two of his films — Baahubali: The Conclusion (2017) bagged three awards and The Ghazi Attack (TGA; 2017) won one award — enjoying victory at the 65th National Film Awards, Rana Daggubati is on a high.

Rana says, “Both of them weren’t run-of-the-mill films. Baahubali was a huge spectacle while TGA belongs to a never-done-before genre. Both started off as regional Telugu films with interesting content and their Hindi release proved that good content works. Baahubali was a brave attempt while TGA was a small film, in comparison, and got a lot of resistance during the making. It has no song or dance or romance. It is a war film with no fighting (laughs). Both movies did well in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil and National Awards for them means good content is always appreciated.”

Recently film-maker Shekhar Kapoor said that ‘regional cinema is giving Hindi cinema a run for its money’. Ask Rana if he concurs and he admits that as India is a multilingual country, the narrative, scripts and presentation of movies in each language is different. “There’s no way one Indian movie appeals to all Indians at the same level. It’s a challenge. And that’s what leads to the belief that stories are bigger than the language. I believe cinema is cinema, no matter what. A language is limited to a region. Some movies cross that boundary and reach a far greater audience. So Baahubali becomes an Indian film and not a regional film. I don’t want to be regionspecific. I want my movies to have a universal appeal. When we talk about crossover movies, I feel crossing over in India itself (from one region to pan-India) is quite an effort. It’s not easy to crossover in India. Imagine going worldwide. As a nation, we should take a step in making cooler films no matter what the language is. We need some outstanding cinema coming out of India and cutting across the international market.”

Currently, Rana is working on trilingual film Haathi Mere Sathi and shooting it in Hindi, Telugu and Tamil simultaneously. He says, “It’s about a man who lives in a jungle with 12 elephants and has a message about the environment. It’s not a remake of the Rajesh Khanna film of the same name. I will be shooting during summer and monsoon in Kerala for the film. Once I come out of that alive, I’ll think of another project (laughs).”

I believe cinema is cinema, no matter what. ...I don’t want to be regionspecific. I want my movies to have a universal appeal.

RANA DAGGUBATI, ACTOR