Rana Daggubati better known as 'Rana' is an Indian film actor, producer, Visual Effects co-ordinator,and photographer known for his works in Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema and Bollywood. As a Visual Effects producer, Rana won the State Nandi Award for Best Special Effects in 2006 for the Telugu film Sainikudu starring Mahesh Babu. In 2006, he received the National Film Award for co-producing Bommalat...Rana Daggubati better known as 'Rana' is an Indian film actor, producer, Visual Effects co-ordinator,and photographer known for his works in Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema and Bollywood. As a Visual Effects producer, Rana won the State Nandi Award for Best Special Effects in 2006 for the Telugu film Sainikudu starring Mahesh Babu. In 2006, he received the National Film Award for co-producing Bommalata A Bellyful of Dreams.
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 received critical acclaim for his performance in the 2012 crime thriller film Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum. In 2015, he starred as the main antagonist in Baahubali: The Beginning, which recorded the highest gross opening for an Indian film.
Rana was born on 14 December 1984, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, to Telugu film producer Daggubati Suresh Babu. His paternal grandfather was D. Ramanaidu, a famous film producer who was conferred with the third highest civilian award in the Republic of India, the Padma Bhushan, in recognition for his contribution to Telugu cinema. His paternal uncle Venkatesh and his maternal cousin Naga Chaitanya are also actors in Telugu Cinema with Venkatesh being one of the Telugu superstars.
Rana's first movie was "Leader" in Telugu directed by shekhar kammula which is one of his biggest success. 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 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 Jagannath'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. In 2013 he secured two big budget projects, Gunasekhar's Rudhramadevi and S. S. Rajamouli's Baahubali in which he is the lead antagonist. Rana did a cameo role in Ayan Mukerji's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani. Bahubali was released worldwide in July 2015 and achieved huge success across the globe. Rana played "Bhallala Deva", the cousin of protagonist Bahubali, who had negative shades and received unexpected appreciation from critics. The movie collected over 500 crores worldwide and is the highest grossing Indian movie domestically.
