Rana Daggubati's experiments with success

He is often in the news for his relationship status. But Rana Daggubati says he rather talk about his films, and why not we say, when he has a host of Telugu, Tamil and Hindi projects in the pipeline?

First up is Na Ishtam, a Telugu flick in which he is paired opposite Genelia D’Souza. “I essay the role of a selfish and rich brat; the girl I fall in love with on the other hand is selfless. It’s all about what happens when opposites are attracted to each other. Also this film will give me an image make over. You will see me dance for the very first time,” he adds. Rana also calls this film his first commercial venture. “Prior to Na Ishtam, I was seen in intense roles. Leader was a political drama while Nenu Naa Rakshasi was a thriller.”

While Leader won him accolades, his ambitious project — Nenu naa Rakshasi — with Puri Jagannath failed to make an impact. His Hindi outing Dum Maaro Dum also didn’t work to his advantage. “We still haven’t been able to figure out what went wrong with Nenu Naa.. I wanted to do a dark film and Puri wanted to stick to his regular style of film making. May be we failed to strike a balance. Both Leader and Nenu Naa… were experiments. One worked and the other didn’t. But I am happy I did both these films.”

Rana seems to be in a mood for experimentation as his other Telugu film Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum will see him play an action hero. “The film will have an Indiana Jones feel to it. I will be working with director Krish for the first time. He has woven my personality into that of the character very well. The script will also put to good use my well-built physique,” he adds.

If rumour mills have to be believed, he has bagged yet another plump project. He is said to have replaced Mahesh Babu in a film that also co-stars Allu Arjun. “I haven’t been offered any such film.

Given that we are actors with entirely different skill sets it would be interesting to come together for a film though. Then again good planning and a brilliant script are required as failure won’t be an option!” he says evading the topic. What about the film with Cheran? “But I haven’t even met him in five-six years! However, I will soon be doing an action film with Selva.” And Vada Chennai with Vetrimaaran? “I had to opt out of it because of date problems. Also since the looks I had to carry for Krish’s film were contradictory, I had to let go of the Tamil film,” he explains. We slide in one more rumour we have heard about him and Trisha painting the town red and he says, “But you are late in linking us up! We have known each other for over ten years as we were neighbours in Chennai. We are nothing but good friends,” he says and we get back to talking about films, for his Hindi film Department is also slated for release. “I play a cop. The film that stars Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt shows the police department taking on the mafia,” he sums up, before sharing a few pleasanteries  and heading back to the dubbing of Na Ishtam.