Rebel Without a Cause

Rana Daggubati is just three films old as an actor, but there’s no denying that he’s here to stay. The success of his debut film, Leader paved way for him to experiment with his career ahead. From a political leader to a sharp shooter in his next movie Nenu Naa Rakshasi, Rana seems to be in quest for newer cinema.Hemanth Kumar is blown away as he finds out what exactly goes through Rana’s rebellious mind.

“I still don’t know if I am an actor! I am just in films. I started my career as a visual effects supervisor which I continued for five years. Then I produced a film and now I’m acting. To me, it’s all the same. It’s still films,” confides Rana when we ask him if he’s fighting for his place in the industry. He clearly isn’t, if his confession is anything to go by. And it’s not the kind of statement you would want to hear from the scion of the Daggubati clan which has a glorious legacy only a few can boast of.

A conversation with Rana Daggubati, about films, is nothing less than a crash course in “How to be a Rebel and challenge the norms”. From Star Wars to Pathala Bhairavi, his interest in films is palpable and eclectic. The choice of films he has done so far throws light on his resolve to do newer cinema. But before we could find out just how much he is into films, we are ushered in to his office because he’s in a meeting with a director, listening to a new story. This might be the umpteenth story Rana has listened to in the past few months during which he completed three films – Leader, Dum Maaro Dum and Nenu Naa Rakshasi. Back in his office, there are posters of his debut film Leader and other films like Godfather, Scarface and Pirates of the Caribbean which adorn the walls. Perhaps, there’s room for more posters to draw inspiration from. One poster in particular catches our attention. It has a quote by Mahatma Gandhi - “I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers.” For a moment, we wonder if Rana still believes in that philosophy! But the moment he walks in, we realize that he gets on a high almost instantly when he talks about his career so far and the projects he’s working on right now. His passion for cinema is blatant. Period!

I write my thoughts! I just write everything. If I have to take a decision, I write. If I have to address someone, I write. My room is filled with little notes, they are not diaries though.

The empire which his grandfather and Dada Saheb Phalke Award winner, D Ramanaidu had built over a period of 47 years resulted in a situation where Rana was spoilt for choice when he decided to make his onscreen debut. Despite all the options he had, he chose to debut in a political drama. “I didn’t choose Leader, the film chose me to narrate the story,” he corrects us, adding with a guffaw, “I didn’t consciously decide that I want to debut with a political drama!” Before he signed his next Telugu film, Rana was offered an important role in Rohan Sippy’s Dum Maaro Dum. The film is set in Goa and Rana plays a musician In his upcoming thriller, Nenu Naa Rakshasi, he plays a sharp shooter. It’s quite an unusual choice of films compared to most other actors of his generation. Rana nods in agreement saying, “When I started my acting career, I didn’t want any of my films to have the same character, look or even the same way of storytelling. And so far, each of them has turned out to be extremely different from each other. I couldn’t be happier!” So, is this what he meant by ‘newer’ cinema, a phrase which he often uses? We wonder what he really has in mind. “I really don’t know! Perhaps, I am referring to stories which are not being told. For Leader, I think Nayagan was the closest reference I came across, because as an actor we like to see a reference just to get going. For Jagan’s film, that totally went off the hook. I just couldn’t find a reference. I had to watch some Korean films that were somewhat close! Even to cut a promo or do a scene, you don’t find a reference. I think that’s what I mean by newer cinema,” he explains.

In such cases, where finding a reference is difficult, how does one proceed? Is it blind faith in the script? “It’s not exactly blind faith. It’s more about living the character and putting yourself in circumstances that character will be in. Technically, you see me in that and it’s not something which is written.” He tells us about how he insists on cutting a three minute promo explaining the attitude of the character and another 90 second promo that would narrate the story. “This process actually annoys a lot of people,” he says. Apparently, for a few films which he wanted to be part of and eventually wasn’t, the pre-visualization didn’t look right. “I had to drop out because I wasn’t satisfied with such promos. Some of them released and bombed miserably at the box office. I believe my little exercise is working out and I will stick to that.”

So, what excites him when it comes to films? “Sci-Fi and Action-Adventure have always been my favourite genres. I am also a big fan of period-war films like Gladiator. Star Wars is my all time favourite film. Creating a space that you haven’t seen before, creating an environment or being somebody who was there in the past excites me. It’s challenging and quite gratifying to recreate the magic which existed a long time ago,” Perhaps, it wouldn’t be too long before we see him donning one such role given his personality. He almost looks like a warrior dressed in T-shirt and Jeans! 

Rana’s penchant for newer cinema throws up an interesting question. How does his father Suresh Babu react to the decisions he has taken so far? After all, you don’t expect a producer and distributor of his stature to keep his cool when his own son doesn’t want to take his hands off the ‘experiment’ button! “Now, my father wants me to do a large action film which would catapult me into the big league. However, the films I have done so far and the next bunch of films belong to a different genre. Even Puri Jagannadh’s Nenu Naa Rakshasi is unlike any other film he has done so far. What I also like is that because of me being like this, Sekhar who’s known for love stories has made a political drama and Puri has made a thriller. So, if someone wants to make a film out of passion, they have me around. I have carved that niche. But my father believes in the growth of an actor, as in if you do certain kind of films you will go on to become a big star. But for me the path is bigger than any other thing,” he says. Now we remember an iconic poster which could adorn his walls beside posters of Leader; that of James Dean from his cult film Rebel Without a Cause. Suits him to the tee! 

His excitement about his upcoming film Nenu Naa Rakshasi is not without  reason. After all, Rana claims that Puri Jagannadh has never done a film like this in his career. What’s so ‘different’ about the film? “One day, Puri told me about the film and said that it’s probably the most passionate story he has ever written. At the same time, he was certain that no actor would do a film like that and I asked him to narrate it to me. In the end, I was completely blown away and decided to act in the film,” Rana recalls, adding “You are going to be the first one whom I am going to tell the story of the film!” Now, it was our turn to be blown away! “In India, about 700 people commit suicide every day. Everybody, at some point in their lives, wishes they were dead. In this context, Nenu Naa Rakshasi is a love story between a sharp shooter and a girl. For all the temporary problems we face in our lives, the permanent solution becomes suicide. Why people take that step is the parallel story of the film. It speaks about how important the reasons for you to live are. It’s about celebrating life.”

Well, that definitely doesn’t sound like the regular slam-bang entertainment that is the trademark of Puri Jagannadh. Will the seriousness of the theme be an undercurrent in the film? “No. It’s quite pronounced actually. Because these films are so new, you have no track of whether they will do well or not. Recently, we screened the film to a test audience of 30-35 people in different batches, just to take in suggestions & correct accordingly. They were shocked that this was the film! Now we are carefully cutting the promos to tell people that “This is the film, don’t expect anything else out of it!” Ravi Teja said, “Oh, I thought it would be something like this, but it turned out to be so different!” What I realised during the first phase is that everyone had an opinion about death and they found some reasons silly. So, we started making the reasons more pronounced and the people who saw the film in the next round didn’t have a doubt about it. After people saw the film, no one spoke a word. Usually you would find people discussing the film and analyzing it but here, they just couldn’t do that. Even the professors from the Film School who watch every other movie went calm! We started from a blank sheet because there was no reference. So, somewhere I think we have achieved what we wanted to. These days, since the stories are similar, you are not really connected to the story. I think it’s conceptually wrong. You need to travel with the principal character which is the whole essence of telling a story. Jagan keeps telling me that he has never been more excited in his life! He’s extremely fun to work with. I don’t know about how Osho was, but I think he must be just like Jagan. He instantly finds the solution before even thinking about the problem.” 

Another reason to be excited about Nenu Naa Rakshasi is Ileana D’Cruz. Few days ago, even RGV went gaga about her performance on his Twitter page calling her the best thing to have happened to Telugu cinema in recent past. “Ileana is amazing in the film,” Rana enthuses. “She plays a very intense role. I joined the film pretty late because I was shooting for Dum Maaro Dum and by then, Jagan had shot most of the solo scenes featuring Ileana. I was blown away by her talent. If you look at the hierarchy, then it would be Jagan, Ileana and then me because of the weight they carry.” Now, we can’t wait to watch the film which would be ready by the end of March. Amol Rathod is the director of photography and there are no music directors in the film! “Vishwa and Rahman, who are lyricists, have composed the music themselves for their songs and I realized that it actually works out really well because they have a great sense of music and words. There are four songs in the film. Anup has composed the background score,” Rana shares with us.

Before we think about the concept of his next film, we had to ask him one final question. Does he get on a high when he faces the camera? “I get on a high even while watching a film or in the lab! It’s just magical. I believe that time is temporary but a film is forever. I might be an actor for five years or ten years, maybe more, but a film is your footprint in history. It stays forever. I think one is very lucky to be part of a story and I believe that the film is beyond all of us. So, we should have that responsibility and give it the respect it deserves over trying to shape your career as an action star or something else.” Amen.