Success and failure are part of some films, especially a bit offbeat ones: Rana Daggubati

Actor Rana Daggubati was quite excited about his trilingual film Haathi Mere Saathi (HMS). He had envisioned that the movie would receive appreciation pan India. However, unlike his expectation, it received mixed responses from movie lovers and critics.

Talking about the film, which had a digital release a while back, the actor shares, “Like success, failure and mixed reviews are part of some films you do and especially if you are doing things a bit offbeat. The learning that comes out of it becomes very fruitful. As for Haathi Mere Saathi , I will always be proud to play Bhandev.” The film based on a man’s struggle to save the forest and its animals, was shot in the dense forests of Kerala and Thailand and originally supposed to release in April last year but was postponed due to the lockdown.

Moving ahead, Daggubati will be collaborating with his colleague from the Telugu movie industry, Pawan Kalyan, in one of his next projects. “The story of the film plays on the male ego. It will be a new film for both of us as well as for the Telugu audience,” excitedly shares Daggubati, who will also be seen sharing screen space with another Telugu star Venkatesh on a digital project.

Ask him about Tollywood stars collaborating in multiple projects — a phenomenon that is a bit rare in the one-hero Hindi film industry — and he says, “It is the story that drives it all. If we have directors that demand it, audiences will always love and enjoy it.”

But hasn’t the hero-worship declined in recent times, especially with the invasion of digital media, we probe? “Stars are stars irrespective of the era. But having said that, it is the kind of content that the stars continuedly work on (that matters the most) to keep fans engaged,” quips the 36-year-old.

Also, Tollywood comprises actors who belong to prominent film families but, the debate around nepotism never seems to arise there. The Baahubali actor explains, “Nepotism, by definition, is applied to political hierarchy or public sector companies…The entertainment world is based on arts. It requires hard work from everyone, irrespective of being from a prominent family or not.”

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