Rana Daggubati Wiki
Early life and family
Ramanaidu Daggubati was born on 14 December 1984 in a Telugu family to film producer D. Suresh Babu in Madras (present-day Chennai), Tamil Nadu. He was named after his paternal grandfather and movie mogul D. Ramanaidu. A member of the Daggubati–Akkineni family, his paternal uncle Venkatesh and his cousin Naga Chaitanya are also actors. 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.Rana did his early schooling in Chennai at Chettinad Vidyashram. He later shifted to Hyderabad, Telangana, where he studied at Nalanda Vidya Bhavan High School and The Hyderabad Public School, Begumpet. At Hyderabad Public School, he was classmates with Ram Charan, Sharwanand, Nikhil Siddharth, and Nag Ashwin. His collegiate studies were at St. Mary's College, Hyderabad. Rana holds a degree in Industrial photography. He lives with his family in Film Nagar Hyderabad. He also owns a flat in Mumbai.Early life
Ramanaidu Daggubati was born in Madras (present-day Chennai), Tamil Nadu to Telugu film producer D. Suresh Babu. He is named after his paternal grandfather D. Ramanaidu, a prominent Telugu film producer. A member of the Daggubati–Akkineni family, his paternal uncle Venkatesh and his cousin Naga Chaitanya are also actors. 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. Rana holds a degree in the Industrial photography. He lives with his family in Hyderabad. He also owns a house in Mumbai.Acting career
Rana's debut film as an actor in Telugu was ''Leader'' (2010), directed by Shekhar Kammula. It remains one of his highest grossers. In it, he plays the role of an aspiring Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. It opened to rave reviews from critics with his performance got much praise. A critic from ''The Times of India'' stated that "Another lineage star RaNa takes his first bow at the BO with an inspiring political saga, a far cry from the formula-ridden films that his ilk usually begin with including his uncle and star Venkatesh." His performance in the film fetched him two awards – Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South and CineMAA Award for Best Male Debut. Rana made his Hindi debut with the film ''Dum Maaro Dum'', which released on 22 April 2011. alongside Bipasha Basu and Abhishek Bachchan where he received positive reviews for his performance and won the Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut.''The Times of India'' called it a "dashing debut". Taran Adarsh commented that "Much of the joy comes from watching Rana Daggubati infuse believability into his character. He's easy on the eyes and is a complete natural when it comes to acting." he played a professional killer Abhimanyu alongside Ileana D'Cruz, under Puri Jagannadh's direction It was a box-office bomb. A reviewer of ''NDTV'' wrote that "Rana's attempt to prove himself as a commercial hero has not taken off and he should wait for another break."Rana had three releases in 2012. His first release of the year was the romantic action film ''Naa Ishtam.'' ''News 18'' credited it as Rana's first "full-length commercial film." Radhika Rajamani of ''Rediff.com'', in her review of the film, praised Rana' performance but criticised the screenplay. His next film was ''Department,'' directed by Ram Gopal Varma, alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt. The film received mixed response from critics and was declared as a box-office bomb. His last release of the year was ''Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum'', directed by Krish, which became a box office success, also receiving critical acclaim. he plays the role of a theatre artist who later meets Devika (Nayanthara). an informer of the CBI, and takes revenge on Redappa/Chakravarthy (Murali Sharma/Milind Gunaji). A critic noted his performance as "brilliant" and "commendable". Karthik Pasupulate of ''The Times of India'' felt that, his performance in the film is his best one to date and is a few notches above everything else he's done to date. In July 2012, Rana signed do a "special appearance" in the film ''Arrambam'', which his Tamil cinema debut.The year 2013 was one of the busiest in his career. Rana made cameo appearances in three films – Sundar C.'s ''Something Something,'' Ayan Mukerji's ''Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'' and Vishnuvardhan's ''Arrambam,'' with the latter being his Tamil debut. The same year, he joined two big-budget productions, Gunasekhar's ''Rudhramadevi'' and S. S. Rajamouli's ''Baahubali: The Beginning'', in which he is the lead antagonist. Both the films were released in 2015. Rana didn't have a single release in 2014.In 2015, he starred in the Hindi film ''Baby'', alongside Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu. Rana played Bhallaladeva, the cousin of Baahubali (Prabhas), in the 2015 film ''Baahubali: The Beginning,'' which is part of ''Baahubali'' franchise. His character became widely popular Both the films were released in 2015. Rana didn't have a single release in 2014.In 2015, he starred in the Hindi film ''Baby'', alongside Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu. Rana played Bhallaladeva, the cousin of Baahubali (Prabhas), in the 2015 film ''Baahubali: The Beginning,'' which is part of ''Baahubali'' franchise. His character became widely popular and received unprecedented appreciation from critics. Rana was inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis to play the character. He described the film as "career-defining" for him. ''Baahubali: The Beginning'' was released worldwide in July 2015 and was the highest-grossing film in India at the time of its release. Made on a production budget of ₹ 180 crore, the film collected a worldwide gross of ₹650 crore at the box office. The film gave him several awards, including the Nandi Award for Best Villain and SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu). The film started a new film movement named Pan-India films. He next appeared in the film ''Rudhramadevi''. It is a 3D biographical action film based on the life of Rudrama Devi, in which he played the role of Chalukya Veerabhadra. Although, the film didn't performed well at the box-office, it received mixed reviews from the critics. Pranita Jonnalagedda felt that his character in the film is "underused". The same year, he appeared as himself in a cameo role in ''Dongaata'' (Telugu)'', Size Zero'' (Telugu) and ''Inji Iduppazhagi'' (Tamil). a remake of the 2014 Malayalam film ''Bangalore Days.'' In 2017, he starred in India's first submarine based Telugu-Hindi bilingual film, ''Ghazi''. The film's plot is based on the mysterious sinking of PNS ''Ghazi'' during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, in which he played Lieutenant Commander Arjun Varma. He shot for 18 days in a specially constructed underwater set. ''Hindustan Times'''s Gautaman Bhaskaran wrote that "Daggubati is wonderfully restrained – a complete changeover from the kind of parts he has been playing so far". Several other critics also praised his performance in the film.Rana reprised his role in the second part of the film series of ''Baahubali'' franchise, ''Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.'' The film started the 1000 Crore Club in Indian cinema. It is currently the second highest-grossing Indian film and the 39th highest-grossing film of 2017 with a gross of ₹1,810 crore. He spent a total of 250 days shooting both the films of the series over five years. His performance as Bhallaladeva was well praised, with critics calling it "terrific", "scheming villain". A critic of ''News18'' stated that he has "made an indelible impact on the viewers." He won two major awards, Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu and SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu). He next did a Telugu film ''Nene Raju Nene Mantri'' in which he plays a politician with grey shades, alongside Kajal Aggarwal. In an interview to ''Gulf News'', director Teja said that "I wanted Joginder to dress like M. G. Ramachandran and have included some traits of MGR in Joginder's life". This film received some mixed reviews but Rana's acting and screen presence were praised. Hemanth Kumar, writing for ''Firstpost'', called his performance "terrific" and added that "it is a performance that we won't forget anytime soon."Rana next began shooting for the Telugu-Tamil bilingual film ''1945''. However, in September 2019, he called it an "unfinished film," while also adding that: "producer defaulted on money." He also signed the mythological film ''Hiranyakashyapa'' directed by Gunasekhar, in 2017. Estimated to be made on a production budget of , the film features Rana in the titular role of Hiranyakashipu. Although as of October 2020, the film stood temporarily shelved owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. He announced his next film ''Kaadan'' (in Tamil; ''Aranya'' in Telugu; ''Haathi Mere Saathi'' in Hindi) on 14 December 2017, directed by Prabhu Solomon. In March 2018, he joined the production of two-part N. T. Rama Rao biographical film series. He played the role of ex-chief minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu in two films – ''NTR: Kathanayakudu'' and ''NTR: Mahanayakudu'', which were released in January 2019 and February 2019. Both the films were commercial failures and received mixed reviews from the critics. He next appeared in a dual role in the Hindi film ''Housefull 4'' and made a cameo appearance in the song "Naan Pizhaippeno" of the Tamil film ''Enai Noki Paayum Thota''.Rana's much awaited film, ''Kaadan'' (in Tamil; ''Aranya'' in Telugu) released in March 2021, after twice rescheduling its release date. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the release of Hindi version ''Haathi Mere Saathi'' too was postponed. Tamil and Telugu versions however released as scheduled. Rana shed 30 kilograms to look lean for his role in the film. Haricharan Pudipeddi of ''Hindustan Times'' appreciated Rana's performance, calling it "one of his best till date."'''' ''The Hans India'' called his performance "exceptional".Rana had two film releases in 2022, the action thriller ''Bheemla Nayak'' and period action drama ''Virata Parvam''. He began filming for the ''Bheemla Nayak'', co-starring Pawan Kalyan in January 2021. Rana was most recently seen co starring in the Netflix series ''Rana Naidu'' alongside his uncle Venkatesh. It is an official adaptation of the American crime drama series ''Ray Donovan''.2010–2012: Debut
Rana's debut film as an actor in Telugu was ''Leader'' (2010), directed by Shekhar Kammula. It remains one of his highest grossers. In it, he plays the role of an aspiring Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. It opened to rave reviews from critics with his performance got much praise. A critic from ''The Times of India'' stated that "Another lineage star RaNa takes his first bow at the BO with an inspiring political saga, a far cry from the formula-ridden films that his ilk usually begin with including his uncle and star Venkatesh." His performance in the film fetched him two awards – Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South and CineMAA Award for Best Male Debut. Rana made his Hindi debut with the film ''Dum Maaro Dum'', which released on 22 April 2011. alongside Bipasha Basu and Abhishek Bachchan where he received positive reviews for his performance and won the Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut.''The Times of India'' called it a "dashing debut". Taran Adarsh commented that "Much of the joy comes from watching Rana Daggubati infuse believability into his character. He's easy on the eyes and is a complete natural when it comes to acting." he played a professional killer Abhimanyu alongside Ileana D'Cruz, under Puri Jagannadh's direction It was a box-office bomb. A reviewer of ''NDTV'' wrote that "Rana's attempt to prove himself as a commercial hero has not taken off and he should wait for another break."Rana had three releases in 2012. His first release of the year was the romantic action film ''Naa Ishtam.'' ''News 18'' credited it as Rana's first "full-length commercial film." Radhika Rajamani of ''Rediff.com'', in her review of the film, praised Rana' performance but criticised the screenplay. His next film was ''Department,'' directed by Ram Gopal Varma, alongside Amitabh Bachchan and Sanjay Dutt. The film received mixed response from critics and was declared as a box-office bomb. His last release of the year was ''Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum'', directed by Krish, which became a box office success, also receiving critical acclaim. he plays the role of a theatre artist who later meets Devika (Nayanthara). an informer of the CBI, and takes revenge on Redappa/Chakravarthy (Murali Sharma/Milind Gunaji). A critic noted his performance as "brilliant" and "commendable". Karthik Pasupulate of ''The Times of India'' felt that, his performance in the film is his best one to date and is a few notches above everything else he's done to date. In July 2012, Rana signed do a "special appearance" in the film ''Arrambam'', which his Tamil cinema debut.2010–2012: debut and breakthrough
Rana's debut film as an actor in Telugu was ''Leader'' (2010), directed by Shekhar Kammula. It remains one of his highest grossers. In it, he plays the role of an aspiring Chief minister of Andhra Pradesh. It opened to rave reviews from critics with his performance got much praise. A critic from ''The Times of India'' stated that "Another lineage star RaNa takes his first bow at the BO with an inspiring political saga, a far cry from the formula-ridden films that his ilk usually begin with including his uncle and star Venkatesh." His performance in the film fetched him two awards – Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South and CineMAA Award for Best Male Debut. Rana made his Hindi debut with the film ''Dum Maaro Dum'', which released on 22 April 2011.''The Times of India'' called it a "dashing debut". Taran Adarsh commented that "Much of the joy comes from watching Rana Daggubati infuse believability into his character. He's easy on the eyes and is a complete natural when it comes to acting." he played a professional killer Abhimanyu alongside Ileana D'Cruz, under Puri Jagannadh's direction It was a box-office bomb. A reviewer of ''NDTV'' wrote that "Rana's attempt to prove himself as a commercial hero has not taken off and he should wait for another break."Rana had three releases in 2012. His first release of the year was the romantic action film ''Naa Ishtam.'' ''News 18'' credited it as Rana's first "full-length commercial film." Radhika Rajamani of ''Rediff.com'', in her review of the film, praised Rana' performance but criticized the screenplay. His next film was ''Department,'' directed by Ram Gopal Varma. The film received mixed response from critics and was declared as a box-office bomb. His last release of the year was ''Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum'', directed by Krish, which became a box office success, also receiving critical acclaim. he plays the role of a theatre artist who later meets Devika (Nayanthara). an informer of the CBI, and takes revenge on Redappa/Chakravarthy (Murali Sharma/Milind Gunaji). A critic noted his performance as "brilliant" and "commendable". Karthik Pasupulate of ''The Times of India'' felt that, his performance in the film is his best one to date and is a few notches above everything else he's done to date. In July 2012, Rana signed do a "special appearance" in the film ''Arrambam'', which his Tamil cinema debut.
2013–2017: Baahubali and beyond
The year 2013 was one of the busiest in his career. Rana made cameo appearances in three films – Sundar C.'s ''Something Something,'' Ayan Mukerji's ''Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani'' and Vishnuvardhan's ''Arrambam,'' with the latter being his Tamil debut. The same year, he joined two big-budget productions, Gunasekhar's ''Rudhramadevi'' and S. S. Rajamouli's ''Baahubali: The Beginning'', in which he is the lead antagonist. Both the films were released in 2015. Rana didn't have a single release in 2014.In 2015, he starred in the Hindi film ''Baby'', alongside Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu. Rana played Bhallaladeva, the cousin of Baahubali (Prabhas), in the 2015 film ''Baahubali: The Beginning,'' which is part of ''Baahubali'' franchise. His character became widely popular Both the films were released in 2015. Rana didn't have a single release in 2014.In 2015, he starred in the Hindi film ''Baby'', alongside Akshay Kumar and Taapsee Pannu. Rana played Bhallaladeva, the cousin of Baahubali (Prabhas), in the 2015 film ''Baahubali: The Beginning,'' which is part of ''Baahubali'' franchise. His character became widely popular and received unprecedented appreciation from critics. Rana was inspired by Daniel Day-Lewis to play the character. He described the film as "career-defining" for him. ''Baahubali: The Beginning'' was released worldwide in July 2015 and was the highest-grossing film in India at the time of its release. Made on a production budget of ₹ 180 crore, the film collected a worldwide gross of ₹650 crore at the box office. The film gave him several awards, including the Nandi Award for Best Villain and SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu). The film started a new film movement named Pan-India films. He next appeared in the film ''Rudhramadevi''. It is a 3D biographical action film based on the life of Rudrama Devi, in which he played the role of Chalukya Veerabhadra. Although, the film didn't performed well at the box-office, it received mixed reviews from the critics. Pranita Jonnalagedda felt that his character in the film is "underused". The same year, he appeared as himself in a cameo role in ''Dongaata'' (Telugu)'', Size Zero'' (Telugu) and ''Inji Iduppazhagi'' (Tamil). a remake of the 2014 Malayalam film ''Bangalore Days.'' In 2017, he starred in India's first submarine based Telugu-Hindi bilingual film, ''Ghazi''. The film's plot is based on the mysterious sinking of PNS ''Ghazi'' during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, in which he played Lieutenant Commander Arjun Varma. He shot for 18 days in a specially constructed underwater set. ''Hindustan Times'''s Gautaman Bhaskaran wrote that "Daggubati is wonderfully restrained – a complete changeover from the kind of parts he has been playing so far". Several other critics also praised his performance in the film.Rana reprised his role in the second part of the film series of ''Baahubali'' franchise, ''Baahubali 2: The Conclusion.'' The film started the 1000 Crore Club in Indian cinema. It is currently the second highest-grossing Indian film and the 39th highest-grossing film of 2017 with a gross of ₹1,810 crore. He spent a total of 250 days shooting both the films of the series over five years. His performance as Bhallaladeva was well praised, with critics calling it "terrific", "scheming villain". A critic of ''News18'' stated that he has "made an indelible impact on the viewers." He won two major awards, Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Telugu and SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role (Telugu). He next did a Telugu film ''Nene Raju Nene Mantri'' in which he plays a politician with grey shades, alongside Kajal Aggarwal. In an interview to ''Gulf News'', director Teja said that "I wanted Joginder to dress like M. G. Ramachandran and have included some traits of MGR in Joginder's life". This film received some mixed reviews but Rana's acting and screen presence were praised. Hemanth Kumar, writing for ''Firstpost'', called his performance "terrific" and added that "it is a performance that we won't forget anytime soon."Rana next began shooting for the Telugu-Tamil bilingual film ''1945''. However, in September 2019, he called it an "unfinished film," while also adding that: "producer defaulted on money." He also signed the mythological film ''Hiranyakashyapa'' directed by Gunasekhar, in 2017. Estimated to be made on a production budget of , the film features Rana in the titular role of Hiranyakashipu. Although as of October 2020, the film stood temporarily shelved owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. He announced his next film ''Kaadan'' (in Tamil; ''Aranya'' in Telugu; ''Haathi Mere Saathi'' in Hindi) on 14 December 2017, directed by Prabhu Solomon.2018–present: Experimental roles
In March 2018, he joined the production of two-part N. T. Rama Rao biographical film series. He played the role of ex-chief minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu in two films – ''NTR: Kathanayakudu'' and ''NTR: Mahanayakudu'', which were released in January 2019 and February 2019. Both the films were commercial failures and received mixed reviews from the critics. He next appeared in a dual role in the Hindi film ''Housefull 4'' and made a cameo appearance in the song "Naan Pizhaippeno" of the Tamil film ''Enai Noki Paayum Thota''.Rana's much awaited film, ''Kaadan'' (in Tamil; ''Aranya'' in Telugu) released in March 2021, after twice rescheduling its release date. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the release of Hindi version ''Haathi Mere Saathi'' too was postponed. Tamil and Telugu versions however released as scheduled. Rana shed 30 kilograms to look lean for his role in the film. Haricharan Pudipeddi of ''Hindustan Times'' appreciated Rana's performance, calling it "one of his best till date."'''' ''The Hans India'' called his performance "exceptional".Rana had two film releases in 2022, the action thriller ''Bheemla Nayak'' and period action drama ''Virata Parvam''. He began filming for the ''Bheemla Nayak'', co-starring Pawan Kalyan in January 2021. Rana was most recently seen co starring in the Netflix series ''Rana Naidu'' alongside his uncle Venkatesh. It is an official adaptation of the American crime drama series ''Ray Donovan''.2018–present: experimental roles and future projects
In 2018, he made a cameo appearance in the Hindi comedy film ''Welcome to New York''. In March 2018, he joined the production of two-part N. T. Rama Rao biographical film series. He played the role of ex-chief minister of Andhra Pradesh N. Chandrababu Naidu in two films – ''NTR: Kathanayakudu'' and ''NTR: Mahanayakudu'', which were released in January 2019 and February 2019. Both the films were commercial failures and received mixed reviews from the critics. He next appeared in a dual role in the Hindi film ''Housefull 4'' and made a cameo appearance in the song "Naan Pizhaippeno" of the Tamil film ''Enai Noki Paayum Thota''.Rana's much awaited film, ''Kaadan'' (in Tamil; ''Aranya'' in Telugu) released in March 2021, after twice rescheduling its release date. Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic in India, the release of Hindi version ''Haathi Mere Saathi'' too was postponed. Tamil and Telugu versions however released as scheduled. Rana shed 30 kilograms to look lean for his role in the film. Haricharan Pudipeddi of ''Hindustan Times'' appreciated Rana's performance, calling it "one of his best till date."'''' ''The Hans India'' called his performance "exceptional".
Rana had two film releases in 2022, the action thriller ''Bheemla Nayak'' and period action drama ''Virata Parvam''. He began filming for the ''Bheemla Nayak'', co-starring Pawan Kalyan in January 2021. Rana was most recently seen co starring in the Netflix series ''Rana Naidu'' alongside his uncle Venkatesh. It is an official adaptation of the American crime drama series ''Ray Donovan''.