My girl should know Tamil, Telugu: Rana

Rana Daggubati, Hyderabad’s latest export, says he’s not taken yet because he can’t make time. And adds that his ideal girl would not only have to be multi-lingual but also cinema-literate
Going just by his looks he is the quintessential movie star, tall (6’3”), dark and handsome. But it’s only when you get him away from the arc lights that you realize just how much of a film guy he is.
Rana Daggubati, 26, who debuted last month in Rohan Sippy’s Dum Maro Dum, to a very favourable response from young ladies, is very different from the other South Indian actors who have tried their luck in Hindi cinema before him.
Taking the example of his own uncle Venkatesh (his father’s younger brother), Rana says, “Anari, which was Venky’s first Hindi film was his 27th film overall. I am only two films old and doing Hindi films is as much a priority for me as working in the Telugu industry. I am at the age when I can expend energy.”
Which he is doing in spades. Downside? There is no time for the, well, finer pleasures of life. Decoded that means he is single. Driving back to the airport after an appearance at an event in Mumbai, he says his day began at 7 am in Hyderabad. He left for Mumbai in the evening and was now on his way back to start the next morning at 7 am again.
“This is a typical day for me. Any wonder I’m single?” he laughs. So what in a girl turns him on? He blushes and says he doesn’t know how to answer such a question. Then, he says, “Someone who understands cinema and speaks well. And of course, she should know Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.”
He brushes aside rumours of a liaison with Bipasha Basu, his DMD co-star. “My first film Leader created a lot of political drama. Its release was pushed back twice. I figure if I could handle that, I can handle minor things such as link-ups. On the sets it would have been easy for me, from another industry, to feel a bit left out. But Rohan, Abhishek and Bipasha put in an extra effort to make me feel part of the clique. And so, the link up with Bipasha was embarrassing. I felt like a victim especially since she is senior and I respect her and her work a lot. In any case, rumours die out faster than they are born and I’m prepared for them.”
What makes him and other recent South Indian actors who have done Hndi films like Vikram (Raavan) or Suriya (Rakth Charitra) so hot? “I speak for Vikram and Suriya too when I say we love such compliments,” he starts tongue-in-cheek, “but I think it’s more the characters, which are written powerfully, than us. When a director from Hindi cinema is looking for an actor from another language, it will be only because he feels the character justifies this and that can only be for a well-written character.”
Surprisingly, even in his home state, Rana is recognized more for his Hindi debut DMD than for his earlier two Telugu films though both have been huge successes. “That’s because there are vast pockets where people speak only Telugu and there are equally large ones where only Hindi is spoken.”
Even though he knows Hindi, Rana and Rohan took the call to dub his voice for DMD because he has a distinct Hyderabadi accent that he is now working on. “Imagine a Goan singer speaking with a Hyderabadi accent,” he laughs. “But from Department, I will dub for myself.”
Rana has been around films and film folks since he was born. “My grandfather built a huge house to rent out for shooting but eventually we moved in there while a part of it was still used for shoots. So there was nothing strange in seeing our lawn being used for one shoot while another unit camped in our living room.” He also recollects flying over his grandfather’s studio which has the legend ‘D Rama Naidu Studios’ painted on the roof and knowing home was approaching.
So did growing up in a film family shape him in discernible ways? “It was like being in film school from early childhood. We had an editing room in our basement, not an Avid but a Steinbeck. By the time I was in Std VI, I could edit a film.” Also being a producer’s son and grandson, the business side of films is part of Rana’s DNA.
There’s no game plan in place for his career. “My only plan is to be versatile, that’s how I started and that’s how I will continue. I write too and am developing scripts for my company. Some day I want to direct, produce, go the whole way.” He considers the Mahabharata the ultimate story and he has read eight different versions of it already. Certainly enough to last one working lifetime.