Beyond acting, Rana Daggubati and his love for bringing interesting stories to Telugu cinema

As actor Rana Daggubati celebrates his 38th birthday on Wednesday, we look at how his love for stories has brought good content to the Telugu film industry.

Actor Rana Daggubati celebrates his birthday on December 14. (Discovery Plus/Instagram)

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Actor Rana Daggubati has always maintained that his love for cinema transcends language barriers. The Hyderabad-based actor, who is known for his work in Telugu film industry made his Bollywood debut with 2011 film, Dum Maaro Dum. Since then, he has not only been part of hit Telugu films like Baahubali, Nene Raju, Nene Mantri, Aranya and Bheemla Nayak but also dabbled between industries of different languages. Interestingly, Rana has not limited his association with interesting stories as an actor. He is known for bringing interesting stories to the forefront in Telugu as a presenter.

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In an earlier interview with IANS, the actor had said that every story that comes from him is an audience-driver. He said, “It is always the audience. They always want new stuff. When you buy a ticket and get into the theatre, you don’t really care where the filmmaker is coming from. You just care about the film. I think the internet and the press have also broken language barriers in a big way. The audience won’t care whether ‘Avengers’ is in Hindi, in Telugu or in any other language,”

The actor, who launched his own YouTube channel called South Bay in 2020, has also promoted feature films which might not typically be big budget, massy films, but have always proved to be rich with content.

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Here’s a look at the films, where Rana went an extra mile to promote the story and turned presenter for the films in Tollywood.

Bommalata

Proud to announce that Bommalata – A belly full of dreams, the first film produced by us at @SpiritMediaIN is premiering at the Bandra Film Festival. Go ahead and check it out now! @BandraFilm
@pkovelamudi @Ragavendraraoba #bandrafilmfestival #Spiritmedia pic.twitter.com/d4A0pFHvpQ

— Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) November 6, 2021

The 2004 film was directed by Prakash Kobelamudi. This was the first time Rana was presenting the film and pushing boundaries for the story. The children’s film was about a young boy, who had a burning desire to go to school and study. The film’s story was so heart touching and impactful that it went on to win the 53th National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. The child actor Sai Kumar, who played the lead in the film also won the National Award for Best Child Artist.

C/o Kancharapalem

Congratulations to team #COKancharapalem, the first Telugu film to be selected for New York Indian Film Festival @nyindianff ! Proud to be presenting it. pic.twitter.com/jJySRY1kmI

— Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) April 2, 2018

Debutant director Venkatesh Maha’s 2018 anthology was a story of four couples fighting for their love in a small town. From press interactions to public appearances, Rana had gone all out for this story in the role of presenter. The film was the first Telugu film ever to be selected for the New York Indian Film Festival. It premiered there in May and then released in India in September of the same year. It was also screened at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne. Besides being screened and honoured at several international film festivals, back home it was nominated and won at prestigious film festivals.

Krishna and His Leela

Ok rumours are done!! The stories are coming out!! Sooner than you think…#KrishnaAndHisLeela #Basedontruerumours Meet Krishna soon…..sooner than you think! 😉@ravikanthperepu | @siddhu95229008 | @shraddhasrinath | @IamSeeratKapoor | @sureshprodns | @viacom18 | @SanjayReddySR pic.twitter.com/k7c101dCBn

— Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) June 21, 2020

This 2020 romantic comedy film film was earlier scheduled to release theatrically but the lockdown forced the release on Netflix, which worked in its favour. Rana had promoted the film aggressively through social media. The film starred Siddu Jonnalagadda, Seerat Kapoor,Shraddha Srinath and Shalini Vadnikatti. The movie brought in great acclaim for the lead actors for their portrayal of confused young adults in love.

777 Charlie

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This Kannada film became popular for Rakshit Shetty’s strong emotional performance and the story exploring the human-dog friendship. Rana brought the story to Telugu film market as the presenter. The actor also distributed the film in Telugu speaking states. The film had done well at the box office not just in Kannada but also Telugu market.

Gargi

The door to #Gargi‘s world is now open. Book your tickets!

🎟️https://t.co/un0wUnU9qb#GargiFromToday @Sai_Pallavi92 @prgautham83 @SureshProdns #AishwaryaLekshmi #GovindVasantha @kaaliactor @blacky_genie @SonyMusicSouth @vamsikaka @Ticket_Factory @CinemasGlobal pic.twitter.com/r4KRPPuv2K

— Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) July 15, 2022

This Sai Pallavi starrer was a winner in all ways. The Tamil film, which released earlier this year, saw Sai Pallavi as the protagonist. The film was presented by Suriya and Jyothika in the Tamil film industry. However in Telugu, Rana brought the presenting rights. This is the latest film, Rana has associated with as a presenter.

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