As Bhallaladeva — Baahubali’s evil cousin — actor Rana Daggubati became a household name. And if you see the actor’s filmography before the massively hit series, it too mostly consists of serious roles. So, the fact that he’s part of a comedy, Housefull 4, is a 360-degree transition. But Rana clarifies that not doing a comedy film wasn’t intentional. “Forget a comedy ensemble film; I have never even done a [solo] comedy movie. Nobody asks [approaches] me to be a part of such films; I don’t know what image they [makers] have of me,” laughs Rana.
Read: Rana Daggubati aka Bhallaldeva: I do love playing larger than life characters
The actor replaced Nana Patekar, who was charged with #MeToo allegations, which led to his exit from the comedy-drama. “So when I got a call for the film (Housefull 4), and Sajid (Nadiadwala) and Farhad (Samji) came down to Hyderabad to narrate the story, I was very interested. The story is so funny that I wanted to be a part of it,” he shares and adds that the film also gave him the opportunity to collaborate with Bollywood star Akshay Kumar.
He mentions that he had a blast with such a big cast and crew and it was like a party every day. But this isn’t the first time that he has been part of an ensemble film. So does he feel that one needs to put in extra effort to get noticed in a multi-starrer, and he explains, “I never had any issues doing ensemble films and nor has any such thought ever crossed my mind. For me, it’s fun to work with actors such as Akshay Kumar. I also worked with Balakrishna (NTR Mahanayakudu) in my last film. They are actors who have done different films, roles, and over the years have taken decisions that have changed their careers. And when you share the screen and time with them, you acquire a lot of knowledge.”
{{/usCountry}}He mentions that he had a blast with such a big cast and crew and it was like a party every day. But this isn’t the first time that he has been part of an ensemble film. So does he feel that one needs to put in extra effort to get noticed in a multi-starrer, and he explains, “I never had any issues doing ensemble films and nor has any such thought ever crossed my mind. For me, it’s fun to work with actors such as Akshay Kumar. I also worked with Balakrishna (NTR Mahanayakudu) in my last film. They are actors who have done different films, roles, and over the years have taken decisions that have changed their careers. And when you share the screen and time with them, you acquire a lot of knowledge.”
{{/usCountry}}Apart from Housefull 4, Rana has three more films coming up — Haathi Mere Saathi, Hiranya Kashyap and Virataparvam. Also, he might do another Hindi film next year titled Bhuj, which also stars Ajay Devgn.
Rana is all praise for the Hindi film industry for the kind of stories they putting out there for the audience, and he shares that the last film that made an impact on him was Dangal (2016).
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