Ramanaidu “Rana” Daggubati (born 14 December 1984) is an Indian actor, producer, television personality, visual effects co-ordinator, and an entrepreneur known primarily for his work in Telugu language films, as well as for his work in Hindi and Tamil language films.
His stint in the film industry began with him working as a visual effects coordinator in around 70 films. And before he turned actor, he started his own production company, Spirit Media. He produced a National Award-winning film and then forayed into acting in 2010.[12]
He made his acting debut with the Telugu blockbuster Leader, for which he won the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut – South. He made his Hindi film debut with the hit film Dum Maaro Dum (2011), alongside Bipasha Basu, where he received positive reviews for his performance and won again Zee Cine Award for Best Male Debut. In 2012, Rana gained prominence by starring in hit Telugu film Krishnam Vande Jagadgurum. In 2015, he played a notable supporting role in the successful Hindi film Baby (2015). He later starred as the main antagonist in Telugu film Baahubali: The Beginning (2015), which recorded the second highest gross opening for an Indian film. He then featured in a supporting role in Tamil film Bangalore Naatkal (2016). In 2017, Rana later reprised his role as Bhallaldeva in Baahubali 2: The Conclusion, which became the highest grossing Indian film of all time.[14][15][16] He has also simultaneously starred in the successful Telugu movies Rudramadevi (2015), Ghazi (2017), and Nene Raju Nene Mantri (2017).
As a Visual Effects producer, Rana won the State Nandi Award for Best Special Effects in 2006 for the Telugu film Sainikudu. In 2006, he received the National Film Award for co-producing Bommalata – A Bellyful of Dreams.
Rana is also an established television personality, as he hosted award shows such as the 2nd IIFA Utsavam, the 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards and he currently hosts his own celebrity talk show, No. 1 Yaari, which brought celebrities such as Vijay Deverakonda, S.S. Rajamouli, Nani, Kajal Aggarwal, Naga Chaitanya, Tamannaah, Rakul Preet Singh, Ram Pothineni, Navdeep, Nikhil Siddharth, and others.
Rana has established himself as one of the leading actors in Telugu cinema, as well as being described as one of the few actors in India who were able to achieve pan-Indian appeal, having taken up a variety of roles, from leading roles to supporting characters, in different languages.
Alongside building a career in cinema, Rana is invested in businesses ranging from a business accelerator programme for technology startups, to an entertainment agency and a comic book company.