''IN BAAHUBALI, I WAS LIKE A BEAST''

The Ghazi Attack featuring Rana Daggubati, Taapsee, Kay Kay Menon, Atul Kulkarni and others will be hitting the screens on the 17th of February. The film is about the mysterious sinking of the Pakistani submarine Ghazi during the Indo-Pak war of 1971. We indulged in a brief chat with hero Rana Daggubati on the film.

How was it working in the film?
Every single thing that we did for the film was fresh and was done for the first time in cinema. So, all the experience was new and different about this, right from the start when we began the story to the way we executed. It is a submarine war film. Understanding the character and the submarines was a challenge. We got into building two large submarines which were identical to the ones which were used in 1971 war. Putting all these together was fun and exciting. My last two films, be it Baahubali or The Ghazi Attack, was an enriching experience. They are very important ones in my career.

How did you prepare for this role?
I was there right from the execution of this project when director Sankalp was attempting to make a short film out of this subject. Then we sat with writers, made into a feature film story. Then we started getting into an understanding of the characters. So I was there right from the initial stage, getting the research done etc. A lot of it came from there.

Then, once the other actors like Kay Kay Menon and Atul Kulkarni came on board, they were of huge support to us as they had done other armed forces based films. They were aware of how dialogues were pitched in such movies. They were the real teachers in that sense. In a combination of all that is how I was prepared for this film.

What about physical transformation?
The last time you saw me on screen was in a film called Baahubali where I was like a beast.  I had to drop a lot of muscle size here and had to look much smaller as I was playing an armed force commander. That was my first goal of getting there. Then there were lots of underwater action sequences. I am already a certified diver and had to brush up on those skill sets. Going for recreation is different and doing action is different. We had to do lots of rehearsals on land and then I went into the water. It was very challenging and fun too.

We heard that you will be buying a bike whose parts are made up of metal of indigenous aircraft carrier INS Vikrant. Is it true?
Yes. I recently read that Bajaj had melted the whole INS Vikrant and they made motorcycles out of it. It is a very nice thing to have. I have made a film on this and the original tale was that Ghazi came to India for INS Vikrant. Let me at least own a piece of history, just to go back in history and time. When I saw the ad, I checked with them and decided to buy. I will be getting it tomorrow.

Anything else about The Gazi Attack?
It is an action thriller and India’s first underwater war film. Although we have many naval bases in India, there is very little told about this through films. We have films on the army or police force, but this is something that we have not seen enough in cinema. They are the armed forces of our country and we need to know about them too.

Wishing Rana the best of luck with The Ghazi Attack!

Jyothsna Bhavanishankar

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