‘Baahubali’ helped me set up ‘Ghazi’: Rana

My dad and I have different viewpoints all the time, a factor which never led us to join forces. Teja’s film was the only story that both of us agreed on instantly

One would’ve expected Rana, after a physically demanding film like ‘Baahubali,’ to do a lighter vein film but that was the last thing on his mind. He agreed to do ‘Ghazi’, which like ‘Baahubali’ required him to go for a makeover. “I was just through with ‘Baahubali’ when I began prepping for ‘Ghazi,’ so I had to lose weight and become much leaner for the part. You put these two characters side by side and I look like two different people,” he smiles, admitting that the transformation took a toll on his body. “Well, that’s my job, right?”

Rana is happy that challenging roles are coming his way. While ‘Ghazi’ will open on February 17, he has already shot for a major part of Teja’s as-yet-untitled political drama set in Anantapur. He also green-signalled a Tamil film, ‘Madai Thiranthu’, where he’d be seen as a soldier. “When you set out to become an actor, you want to play as many different roles as possible. I also believe that post ‘Baahubali’ things have changed quite a bit as people are attempting new things. ‘Ghazi,’ in that sense, is very different as it’s the first complete film on Indian Navy. The film would not have been possible sometime back, but now can you assemble a good team and bring life to such a story. So, in a way, ‘Baahubali’ has helped me to set up ‘Ghazi’.”

For his part Arjun, a naval commander, the actor, besides hitting the gym and monitoring his diet, also had to get his Navy drills right.

“Furthermore, the film had a lot of underwater action sequences and I had to train with a bunch of fighters for them.”

The war-at-sea patriotic film, directed by Sankalp Reddy, narrates the mysterious sinking of Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi off India's eastern seaboard during the 1971 war. Ask him what made him to trust Sankalp who is a novice to feature filmmaking and he smiles, “That’s why the film looks new. ‘Ghazi’ was his idea and he wanted to make a one-hour short film out of it. We’ve just helped him to project it on the big screen with right technicians and artistes.”

He admits it was a challenging film to pen and shoot. “We took six-eight months to write the film because we were sure from the beginning that it would take time for standard industry writers to understand the film’s genre. There were a very few people who can be put on the project because it was not an everyday film. So the first challenge was to get right people for the content. Thankfully ace technicians like cinematographer Madhie and editor Sreekar Prasad came on board.”

‘Ghazi’ also features the likes of Om Puri, Kay Kay Menon and Atul Kulkarni in supporting roles. Rana points out that besides adding a lot on the acting front, the trio have also helped the team on the script and dialogues front. “Also, this is one of Mr Puri’s last films. We feel blessed to have worked with him.” Rana is good friends with most of his industry peers but insists that he doesn’t look up to their work. “I don’t, because I don’t do the cinema that they do. Whether I’m doing ‘Baahubali’, ‘Ghazi’ or Teja’s film, they are something which no body is doing here. I am a movie buff but there’s an alternative storytelling that I’d like to come with,” he exults.

Teja’s film also marks him teaming up with his producer dad Suresh Babu for the first time under Suresh Productions. Quiz him why did it took so long for both of them to come together and he maintains, “My dad and I have different viewpoints all the time, a factor which never led us to join forces. Teja’s film was the only story that both of us agreed on instantly.”