Rana on Baahubali (Interview to Bangalore Mirror)

Filmmaker S S Rajamoui's magnum opus "Baahubali", which is touted to be made on a budget of over Rs. 100 crore, is unarguably the most anticipated Indian film. 

Actor Rana Daggubati vouches for it in his own words. "I can guarantee you that it will be the biggest visual spectacle in Indian cinema. It is by far the largest film audiences are going to see," he said. That's why he didn't mind spending nearly two years on the project already. "The scale on which this film is being made is so enormous that it requires a lot of time. Moreover, we haven't done this before, so we are also learning in the process," he revealed. 

Being simultaneously made in Telugu and Tamil, the film's story is about the war between two brothers Baahubali (played by Prabhas) and Bhallala Deva (Rana) for a kingdom. It also features Anushka Shetty and Tamannah Bhatia in important roles. Rana, for a change, will be seen essaying the antagonist. He says he's playing the grey character for a reason and it doesn't come across like an archetypal villain. 

"When yesteryear actor NTR played grey characters like Duryodhana and Raavana, they became powerful on screen. These characters were grey for a reason and they have a right to be like that. My character is just like that," he said. Rana prepared for his role keeping in mind these historical characters that still etch in audience's minds and will continue to do so as they're eternal.  
Known for his towering fig ure and physique, Rana under went extreme physical trans formation to play Bhallala Deva. He gained about 19 kilos muscle to completely not look like him at all. "When I recently saw my self in an old film, I wondered how different I look now. I don't look like myself now. I'm alot heavier," he says. 

Rajamouli wanted Rana to look massive in the role. "I trained like a body builder. My character demanded me to look huge because it's a war film. Rajamouli had flown in a trainer from Vietnam to prepare us for our roles," he says. 

Even before the film went on floors, Rana and Prabhas underwent taxing physical training for about eight months. "It's still continuing be cause there are two parts to the film. We've almost com pleted part one and have shot some crucial scenes in the sec ond part as well," Rana said. 

Part one of "Baahubali" is slat ed for summer 2015 release.

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