Rana Daggubati better known as Rana, is an Indian film actor and producer. He made his acting debut with the Telugu film Leader. The film, written and directed by Sekhar Kammula, hit the theatres on 19 February 2010, and became an instant success, gaining Rana Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South.[3]
Rana Daggubati | |
|---|---|
| Born | Rama Naidu Daggubati[1] December 14, 1984 |
| Occupation(s) | Actor, Film producer |
| Years active | 2005-present |
| Parent(s) | Suresh Babu Daggubati Lakshmi Daggubati |
| Website | www.ranadaggubati.com |
He made his Bollywood debut with the Hindi film Dum Maaro Dum which released on 22 April 2011 and received mixed to positive response. In 2009, his very first film as a Producer, won Rana the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu[4] for the Telugu film Bommalata A Belly Full of Dreams directed by Prakash Kovelamudi. As a Visual Effects Producer, Rana won the state Nandi award 2005 for best VFX in the Mahesh Babu starrer 'Sainukudu'. He was voted 'The Most Promising Newcomer of 2011 in the Times Of India poll conducted recently. He was listed at number 20, on the Times Of India's Most Desirable Men for the year 2011.[5][6]
'Department' scheduled to release on the 18th of May 2012 - Rana shares screen space with the legendary Amitabh Bachchan and Sunjay Dutt in director Ram Gopal Varma`s Hindi film Department. 'Department' is touted to be RGV's most ambitious and most expensive film till date. 'Department' tells the story of a terrifying power struggle within the police department. The movie promises viewers with never-seen-before action and drama.
Early life and family
He was born on 14 December 1984 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to prolific film producer Suresh Babu Daggubati, the latter being the elder son of Ramanaidu Daggubati. Actors Venkatesh Daggubati and Nagarjuna Akkineni are Rana's uncles. His cousin is actor Naga Chaitanya Akkineni. Other relatives include Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Amala, Sumanth, Sushanth, and Akhil. Rana has attended his high school in Chennai along with his best friends actors Ram Charan Teja Konidala. [7][8] and Allu Arjun.
Grandson of Telugu movie Moghul and Dada Saheb Phalke award winner Dr. D. Ramanaidu, son of producer D. Suresh Babu, and nephew to Telugu superstar Venkatesh, Rana Daggubati made a sensational debut as the lead actor in the political thriller ‘LEADER’ in the year 2010. His debut performance in the ‘LEADER’ directed by Sekhar Kammula and produced by AVM Studios, established him as an accomplished actor and star.
Having inherited a passion for cinema from his family, Rana produced his very first film in 2006 “A Belly full of Dreams”, which won him the National Award for the best film. Before embarking on an acting career, Rana was a successful Digital Post entrepreneur, and is accredited with having transformed the evolution of the postproduction landscape in South India. Having identified an emerging need for digital services he established DI and state-of-art postproduction technologies through his company, Spirit Media.
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role | Language | Director | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Leader | Arjun Prasad | Telugu | Sekhar Kammula | Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South |
| 2011 | Dum Maaro Dum | DJ Joki Fernandes | Hindi | Rohan Sippy | Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut |
| 2011 | Nenu Naa Rakshasi | Abhimanyu | Telugu | Puri Jagannadh | |
| 2012 | Naa Ishtam | Ganesh | Telugu | Prakash Toleti | |
| 2012 | Department | Shivnarayan | Hindi | Ram Gopal Varma | Releasing 18th May 2012 |
| 2012 | Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum | B.Tech Babu | Telugu | Radha Krishna Jagarlamudi (Krish) | Filming |
2012: Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum – Produced and Directed by the national award winning Krish, Rana Daggubati and Nayantara combine in ‘Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum’. 'KVJ' offers a stirring evidence of the transformative power of art and the alchemy of the human spirit.. After ‘Vedam’ won the lion’s share at the 58th Filmfare awards, ‘Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum’ will be Krish’s next Telugu film.
2012: Naa Ishtam - Rana romances the beautiful Genelia in this refreshing rom-com. Naa Ishtam is the love story of a selfish boy who puts the world behind him, and a girl who puts the world ahead of her. The films released on the 23rd of March 2012.
2011: Dum Maaro Dum - Rana made his debut in Hindi with Rohan Sippy's Dum Maro Dum, starring Abhishek Bachchan, Bipasha Basu and Pratik Babbar. With an imaginative blend of some stupendous background music, animated cinematography and simple effective storytelling Dum Maaro Dum opened to packed houses on 22nd April 2011. According to the critics, “Much of the joy comes from watching Rana Daggubati infuse believability into his character. He's easy on the eyes and is a complete natural when it comes to acting.” The film grossed highest openings was the highest in the Nizam and Mysore territories due to Rana’s immense popularity as crowd puller. Nenu Naa Rakshasi – Within a week of the release of Dum Maaro Dum ‘Nenu Naa Rakshasi’ hit the screens worldwide on the 29th of April 2011. Nenu Naa Rakshasi is a romantic thriller with an underlying message. Rana played a sharp shooting professional killer. Director Puri Jagannadh crafted the film with a mix of action, love and entertainment.
2009 - 2010: ‘Leader’ released on the 11th of February 2010. Rana's debut film ‘Leader’ - directed by Sekhar Kammula. The film falls in the classic genre of political drama. In this film, Rana portrayed the role of a young visionary, born in a powerful yet dynamic political family.
2008: Rana also studied at the Barry John School of acting at Mumbai. He also underwent training as a stunt director at AFW, New Jersey. During this time period, he was focused on developing scripts - transforming ideas into workable blueprints for his films.
2007: Spirit Media then collaborated with Prime Focus and Rana acquired a seat on the Board of Directors of Prime Focus. He then began training for an active career as an actor. He went through two years of training in acting which included dance, diction, action and stage plays.
2006: Suresh Productions became stakeholders in FXLabs, a game development company and Rana led them into developing popular Bollywood movie based video games ‘Dhoom 2’ and ‘Ghajini’. Other collaborations include AVM Studios, Chennai for digital postproduction and also 4k Animation GmbH, a German company for animation film production. Spirit Media roped in international digital colorists like Florian Martin ‘Utsi’ (of The Lord of the Rings fame).
2005: Rana also won the prestigious national award as producer for his very first Telugu feature film, ‘A Belly Full of Dreams’. He established Spirit Media in 2005 to provide picture enhancement technologies for Telugu and Tamil film Industry. Spirit Media, a group company of Suresh Productions was inaugurated by Barry Osborne, Hollywood filmmaker and producer (The Lord of the Rings, Face Off and The Matrix). Spirit Media entered into other national and international alliances with QED, an international VFX collaboration backed by Barry Osborne, and Legend Films for colorization and restoration of films. Spirit Media became a premier Digital Post facility in South India when it entered into a strategic partnership with Nipuna Services Ltd. After Hyderabad its operations expanded to and Bangalore. Major projects include ‘Dasavatharam’, ‘Gandhi My Father’, ‘Lakshmi’, ‘Stalin’ and ‘Pokiri’. ‘Sainikudu’ won the state award for best visual effects in a film.
2004: Rana was also involved as an Executive Producer and Cinematographer for a number of films produced by Suresh Productions (Allari, Soggadu, Malleshwari, etc.)
2003: At 19, Rana returned to Hyderabad to join the family business at Ramanaidu Studios and Suresh Productions, an integrated production powerhouse. He produced, directed and photographed several short films during this time. “Barah” (12) a 60-minute Hindi film won him several accolades in the film circles.
2002: Straight out of school in 2002, Rana spent a year and a half in Chennai pursuing photography at the Konica Institute of Imaging and Technology and also consulting for Timeline studio, a visual effects studio, as a producer and cinematographer. During the year he produced several documentaries and advertisement films in Chennai and Hyderabad for various brands.
References
- ^ "Rana Daggubati Biography". cinebasti. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
- ^ Rajamani, Radhika (24 November 2009). "An entrepreneur who acts too". Rediff. Retrieved 24 October 2010.
- ^ "Leader' Rana Daggubati launches website". Sify.com. 14 December 2009. Retrieved 2011-06-18.
- ^ Kr, Manigandan (16 December 2009). "Chennai has special place in my heart:Rana". The Times Of India.
- ^ "Times Most Desirable Men of 2011: Rana Daggubati - No. 20 - Video". The Times Of India.
- ^ "Bipasha is like family: Rana Daggubati". The Times Of India. 16 December 2011.
- ^ "The new entrants in Times 50 Most Desirable Men 2011". The Times Of India. 4 February 2012.
- ^ "Rana Daggubati's a family man". The Times Of India. 19 June 2011.