Rana Daggubati

Ramanaidu "Rana" Daggubati (born 14 December 1984) is an Indian film actor, producer, television personality, visual effects co-ordinator, and an entrepreneur known primarily for his work in Telugu language films, as well as for his work in Hindi and Tamil language films.

His stint in the film industry began with him working as a visual effects coordinator in around 70 films. And before he turned actor, he started his own production company, Spirit Media. He produced a National Award-winning film and then forayed into acting in 2010.

He made his acting debut with the Telugu blockbuster Leader, for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South. He made his Hindi film debut with the hit film Dum Maaro Dum (2011), alongside Bipasha Basu, where he received positive reviews for his performance and won again Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut. In 2012, Rana gained prominence by starring in hit Telugu film Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum. In 2015, he played a notable supporting role in the successful Hindi film Baby (2015). He later starred as the main antagonist in Telugu film Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), which recorded the second highest gross opening for an Indian film. He then featured in a supporting role in Tamil film Bangalore Naatkal (2016). In 2017, Rana later reprised his role as Bhallaldeva in Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which became the highest grossing Indian film of all time. He has also simultaneously starred in the successful Telugu movies Rudramadevi (2015), Ghazi (2017), and Nene Raju Nene Mantri (2017).

As a Visual Effects producer, Rana won the State Nandi Award for Best Special Effects in 2006 for the Telugu film Sainikudu. In 2006, he received the National Film Award for co-producing Bommalata – A Bellyful of Dreams.

Rana is also an established television personality, as he hosted award shows such as the 2nd IIFA Utsavam, the 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards and he currently hosts his own celebrity talk show, No. 1 Yaari, which brought celebrities such as Vijay Deverakonda, S.S. Rajamouli, Nani, Kajal Aggarwal, Naga Chaitanya, Tamannaah, Rakul Preet Singh, Ram Pothineni, Navdeep, Nikhil Siddharth, and others.

Rana has established himself as one of the leading actors in Telugu cinema, as well as being described as one of the few actors in India who were able to achieve pan-Indian appeal, having taken up a variety of roles, from leading roles to supporting characters, in different languages.

Alongside building a career in cinema, Rana is invested in businesses ranging from a business accelerator programme for technology startups, to an entertainment agency and a comic book company.

Early life
Rana was born in Madras, Tamil Nadu (present-day Chennai) to Telugu film producer D. Suresh Babu and is part of the Daggubati-Akkineni Family. His paternal grandfather was Telugu film producer D. Ramanaidu. His paternal uncle Venkatesh and his cousin Naga Chaitanya are also actors in the film industry. Rana revealed in 2016 that he is blind in his right eye, and his left eye is a transplanted one. The surgery was done in L. V. Prasad Hospital, Hyderabad. Another surgery was done on his right eye when he was 14, but was unsuccessful. He did his schooling in Chennai and Hyderabad from Chettinad Vidyashram and Hyderabad Public School respectively. He later studied at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad. He lives with his family in Hyderabad.

Career
Rana's first movie was Leader, in Telugu, directed by Shekhar Kammula, which is one of his biggest successes. Rana made his Bollywood debut with the film Dum Maaro Dum, which released on 22 April 2011. The Times of India called it a "dashing debut". He was voted "The Most Promising Newcomer of 2011" in the Times Of India poll. He was listed at number 20 on the Times of India's Most Desirable Men for the year 2011. In 2012, he was voted as the 10th most desirable man in India, in the poll conducted by The Times of India.

He played a professional killer in the film Nenu Naa Rakshasi, under Puri Jagannadh's direction, which was a box office bomb. His first release in 2012 was Naa Ishtam, which was followed by his second Hindi film Department. He next starred in Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum, directed by Krish, which became a box office success. He made his debut in Tamil through Ajith Kumar's Aarambam. Rana did a cameo role in Ayan Mukerji's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.

In 2013, he joined two big-budget projects, Gunasekhar's Rudhramadevi and S. S. Rajamouli's Baahubali, in which he is the lead antagonist. Rana played Bhallaladeva, the cousin of Baahubali, who had negative shades and received unprecedented appreciation from critics. Baahubali: The Beginning was released worldwide in July 2015 and was the highest-grossing film in India at the time of its release. The concluding film of the series Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, became the first Indian film to cross 1000 crore and is currently the second highest grossing Indian film. In 2017, he did India's first underwater film, The Ghazi Attack. It opened to very positive reviews.

After Baahubali 2's release, he further did a Telugu political Thriller movie Nene Raju Nene Mantri in which he plays a Politician with grey shades, alongside Kajal Aggarwal. This film too received positive reviews for Rana's acting and screen presence. Along with the movies, he also starred in a web series called Social. Further, Rana is the host of Telugu Television talk-show, No. 1 Yaari. He also dubbed for the character Thanos in the Telugu dubbed version of Avengers: Infinity War.

In 2019, he was signed for a mythological film 'Hiranyakashyapa' directed by Gunasekhar. In the film, Rana will be playing the titular role of Hiranyakashipu.

Personal life
Rana got engaged to his girlfriend, Mihika Bajaj, founder of Dew Drop Design Studio, on 21 May 2020 and the marriage took place on 8 August 2020 at Ramanaidu Studios.

Awards and nominations

 * National Film Awards
 * National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu – Co-producer (Spirit Media) – A Bellyful of Dreams (2006)


 * Filmfare Awards South
 * Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South – Leader (2010)
 * Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu – Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2018)


 * Nandi Awards
 * Nandi Award for Best Special Effects (Spirit Media) – Sainikudu (2006)
 * Nandi Award for Best Villain – Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), Baahubali 2: The Conclusion(2017)


 * Zee Cine Awards
 * Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut – Dum Maro Dum (2011)


 * SIIMA Awards
 * SIIMA Award Youth Icon of South Indian Cinema (2011)
 * SIIMA Award for Best Actor (Critics) – Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum (2012)
 * SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu) – Baahubali: The Beginning (2016)
 * SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu) – Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2018)
 * Entertainer of the Year :Rana Daggubati - Baahubali 2: The Conclusion / Ghazi / Nene Raju Nene Mantri

IIFA Awards Asiavision Movie Awards
 * IIFA Award for Best Actor (Negative role) – Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)
 * AsiaVison Movie Award for Best Actor (From south) – Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)


 * Sri Kala Sudha Telugu Association's 20th Ugadi Awards 2018
 * Sri Kala Sudha 2018, Best Actor – Nene Raju Nene Mantri (2018)

CineMAA Awards Santosham Film Awards
 * CineMAA Award for Best Male Debut – Leader (2010)
 * CineMAA Award for Best Villain – Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)


 * Santosham Best Villain Award – Baahubali: The Beginning (2015)

Business career
The actor, who sits at the head of the Daggubati family's Ramanaidu Studios, one of India's largest integrated production houses, offering production, distribution, exhibition and studio infrastructure for cinema, TV and digital platforms, not only manages the studio business as well as the production house, Suresh Productions, alongside his father and well-known producer Daggubati Suresh Babu, but is also invested in many businesses.

Five years before turning into an actor, in 2005, Rana entered the visual effects business with Spirit Media P. Limited. The company that specialised in animation and VFX, produced special effects for over 70 films.

In 2018, he entered into a Joint Venture with Kwan Entertainment and Marketing Solutions. Set up as a studio style agency, Kwan South's divisions include talent management casting, live performances and appearances, film packaging, production support- TV and Commercials, brand associations- endorsements, digital and film partnerships. In 2018, Kwan expanded with an office in Chennai.

In 2018, he also tied up with Anthill Ventures, an investment and scaling platform for early growth stage start-ups, to launch Anthill Studio. Anthill Studio is a business accelerator program focused on technology startups in Media & Entertainment. The studio supports and mentors disruptive startups in leading-edge technologies such as AI, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality (AR/VR), Blockchain, Visual Effects (VFX), Cloud Rendering, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data and Analytics.

In 2019, Rana bought a stake in the one of India's leading comic book companies, Amar Chitra Katha and turned director to the company that is backed by Future Group. In March 2019, he a learning centre for art and design, life skills, performing arts and vedic science and ethics in Hyderabad.