Rana Daggubati, 30, not just derives his name from his grandfather D Ramanaidu's name, but also loves him the most in the world. He may not have been acknowledged so far as being a big star, but he is a part of Baahubali, the biggest film made in India ever. He is emotional, honest and a flirt. He loves to get into trouble, as he enjoys getting out of it. He will do what he wants to, but is very detailed to an annoying level. He loves things to be easy, but is very loyal. He is observant and loves hanging around people, be it his friends or people he may not even like. Over an hourlong conversation just ahead of the release of his thriller Baby, he talks to Bombay Times about his naughty friend Ram Charan, his chilled-out grandfather and how he will direct a film for sure one day. Excerpts:

How did you come into films?
My grandfather D Ramanaidu has been in the film business for over 50 years, so I grew up in films. My dad Suresh is a producer and my uncle Venkatesh (my dad's younger brother) an actor. We run studios in Hyderabad called Ramanaidu Studios. I was born in Chennai as at that time, Telugu films were made there. I moved to Hyderabad when I was in Class I and joined the Hyderabad Public School and studied there till Class X. Films that my family made were edited at that time in our basement. So, there would be a bunch of steam bags on which the editing happened manually and I learnt how to do it when I was in Class VI and would hang out with directors and their assistants, as the film work usually happened late at night. Then, when I was in Class X, we started building the DTS Theatre, which is when I did a small programme in Chennai. I had a lot of inclination towards films. After school, I joined B.Com, but realised within two months that I did not like it and decided to instead go to Chennai to the Film Institute to learn Industrial Photography, so technically, I am a photographer. I returned to Hyderabad and modelled for a few ads and started assisting at the studio that was being built at that time. Then, what caught my fancy was when people I knew were setting up a visual effects facility, so this friend of mine asked me if I could shoot on a 3D camera. I said, 'Let me try.' I got introduced to visual effects and I realised that there was space for it in Telugu films. So my dad and I got together and set up a visual effects DI unit in Hyderabad and I ran it for five years till I finally sold it to Prime Focus in 2007, who now run it. I realised that I had built so much film knowledge. I could edit faster than any other film editor could. I could shoot more than anyone from DFT could. I could do visual effects that only a few could. I then produced a festival film called A Belly Full of Dreams in Telugu that won a National Award. By this time, it was clear that I wanted to be in films. The service industry was starting to deplete, be it labs or editing facilities, and there is no age limit for becoming a producer or director, so we decided that I would be an actor. My family has always believed that anybody can do anything if you are trained for it. So I trained with Barry John's in Mumbai, did marital arts and then went to stunt school in the US. Right from my childhood, I had been this strong, tough kid. When you have a home filled with actors and your friends are all from the film world, everybody has an opinion on what your first film should be. All my friends, be it Ram Charan (Teja), Chaitanya or Allu Arjun, had been launched already and it was all about films outdoing each other on scale. I also wanted to do a hero's film, but the kind no one had done. I did Sekhar Kammula's Telugu film Leader in 2010, where I played the CM and the film was a hit, both critically and at the box office.

Who do you love the most in the world?
My grandfather. He won't even feel like someone from another generation if you speak to him. He is very chilled-out and very professional and is way more advanced than my father. When I became an actor, he would say to me, 'It does not matter whether you are good or bad or anything else. The only thing important is that you get to work.' When I don't shoot, I hang out with him in his room. He always says that I am just like him while he was growing up. He has produced 130 films across all languages. In 100 years of cinema, there is no one but us who lasted out for 50. So, for half the time that cinema was around, we were there. I have zero arrogance, but have a lot of value for long-term cinema.

How are you similar to your grandfather?
I don't stress too much on things, be it failure or success. I keep moving forward. In a fragile type of industry that we have, I don't get bogged down by what others think. I try and strike a balance between being sensible and sensitive. Whatever wealth my granddad made, he put it back into films. He does not make money to make money. He makes money to make more movies. And I do exactly the same thing.

Talk about your friend Ram Charan?
I would get 90% in language, but just 4% in Maths and failed in Class X. I just didn't like studying. I told my mother, 'Don't let school ever interfere with my education.' And I got one slap across my face. Of course, that is the last slap of my life as after that, I just became a big man so I guess she could not hit me. But the one person who didn't care a shit that I had failed was my grandfather. Charan and me used to be in the same class in Chennai and he would often come to my uncle's house to swim. He had moved to Chennai and had failed in Class VI, but he did not tell me. I too did not tell him when I failed in Class X and I moved to a small school in Hyderabad, so that no one would know that I had failed. I was seated on the back bench on the first day when they announced that there was another new boy and I see Charan walking in. That's the first time we both came to know that we both had failed and from then on, we became friends and are today best friends.

What is Ram Charan like?
My best friends are all from the industry and they include Chaitanya, my cousin, and Bunny (Allu Arjun). Charan and Chaitanya are slightly more reserved than Bunny and I are. They stick to their defined set of people and it's not like they open up to other people. Bunny and I are the other way round. We have friends all over the place. We go to a bar and make friends. The last few months have been vague as Charan and Bunny have got married, so you don't have any people to call up any more. I don't call Charan or Bunny, as I keep wondering if their wives would be next to them after 8pm. I just keep waiting for them to call me. Ram is very homegrown. His wife Upasana has been our childhood friend as well. And Bunny's wife Sneha and I were classmates from Class I. So I have just started making different friends. It's too much for me. Bunny now even has a kid. Charan is practically the only person I have known for all my life, apart from Chaitanya. Unlike in Bollywood, where the big five stars will not walk into a coffee shop, we in Hyderabad do that all the time. We don't go to five-star hotels, but go to places we grew up in. It's funny but if you do that even in Mumbai, nothing will happen. The problem is that if you walk in with bodyguards is when you will be hounded, not otherwise. I never had a bodyguard in Hyderabad. None of us ever did. And we go out all the time. Charan and I were very mischievous and naughty. Our parents would ensure that we were not put in the same car as we were a riot together.

You are the top Telugu stars. Do you compete?
We have kept a very conscious thing amongst ourselves, where we hear each other's stories right in the beginning. We use it to our advantage, as we get four professional judgements. We have made our competitiveness almost nil by doing that.

Are heroines treated very differently than the heroes in Telugu films?
It never happened when a Jaya Prada or Sridevi or Nayanthara or Trisha was there. It happens only when you are not from Tamil or Telugu lineage. But there are exceptions like Tamannaah. She and I go to the same gym. I was shocked seeing her once. She came to me and said, 'You just speak to me in Telugu. I will mess up, but I want to learn.' And then I see, flipping channels, that she is giving Tamil interviews on TV. Now that's something. A Punjabi girl living in Mumbai speaks Tamil and Telugu. She's a hero.

Does marriage figure in your life?
I have had my fair share of affairs, but somebody I dated for a long time is now married. She was Bunny's friend and we lived on the same street in Chennai, so were best friends for the longest time. Right now, I am not seeing anyone. After a certain time, you realise how you did not work out your relationships and how you would like to do it better. I think I'm a serious enough thinker to not repeat what I think was not right, but not enough to get bothered by it. And while I do want to get married and I have always loved children, I need to feel settled before I can do that.

Will you direct someday?
Yes for sure. That is what I had set out to do. I will direct and produce films for sure.