Lulu Happiness February March 2017 Lulu Happiness February March 2017 | Page 20

STAR
All Hail the
Macho Star
While men envy him, women adore him. But Rana Daggubati, the class act that
he is, takes both of these in his stride. That the man, whose popularity graph is
soaring north, has a razor sharp mind in addition to a superb physique is a well-
established fact. However, what many don’t know is that this down-to-earth actor
is also pragmatic and professional to the core. At least, two of Rana’s films are
bound to go down the annals of history this year. Yes, the actor’s film, The Ghazi
Attack, which will be India’s first film on war at sea, is scheduled to hit screens on
February 17 while his sequel to India’s biggest blockbuster Baahubali, which has
already made history, is all set to release in April. That apart, Rana, who was born
in Chennai, is also playing the lead in a period Tamil film that is set in the
pre-Independence era. The actor, in an exclusive interview to Lulu Happiness,
opens up to Manigandan KR on all of these and his love for Kerala where he is
scheduled to shoot for his Tamil film. Excerpts follow...
Baahubali 1 has been a tremendous
success and expectations for the sequel
have skyrocketed. Having worked
on both parts, which would you say
was more demanding, Baahubali 1 or
Baahubali 2?
We shot both of them together. Most of
Part Two was shot when we were filming
Part One and what got better was we
were also learning, figuring out how to
do the war sequences correctly. By the
time we got to filming Part Two, we had
gained certain experiences. Part One did
extremely well as a franchise and we could
afford better budget and better technicians.
So, things got definitely simpler and more
organised while we were filming Part Two.
You sport an even more impressive
physique in the sequel than your already
spectacular appearance in Part One. Tell
us about the efforts that you have had to
put in for Baahubali 2.
The war happens in the sequel and
Rajamouli wanted me to play an old
person. I had to look old but also be strong.
In the war sequence, there are a lot of
20 LULU HAPPINESS FEB-MAR ‘17
action sequences and we needed to look
the part to pull off an entire war together.
So, that’s what Rajamouli gave us and that
is what we worked for and things worked
out quite well.
How many hours did you have to spend
in the gym to ensure you got that beefed
up look?
I used to do two sessions a day, about an
hour-and-a-half each and it went on for a
couple of months that way. I don’t train
on Sundays because the body needs rest to
kind of recover and get back.
What was the biggest challenge with
regard to working on Baahubali 2?
Be it the body, be it the look we are trying
to get, it is not really challenging because
right from Day 1 we understood what
we were supposed to do. Our brief was
exact and we had to just get there. The
challenging part was doing two films at the
same time. As I was shooting for Baahubali
2 and The Ghazi Attack at almost the
same time, my size was the bigger issue. I
had to look extremely thick and beefy for