The year 2015 has been significant for Rana Daggubati. The actor, who debuted in Bollywood with Dum Maaro Dum (2011), was also seen flexing muscles in Neeraj Pandey's spy thriller Baby. Then, cinema lovers across the country took notice of him as Bhallala Deva in south director S S Rajamouli's blockbuster Baahubali: The Beginning. Now, he has caught the fancy of brands and is signing endorsement deals with them.

An excited Rana says, “By becoming such a huge hit across the country, Baahubali proved that a strong story can travel places. I am optimistic that the sequel will resonate more with the audience and open several avenues when it releases next year. Ultimately, it's the emotions in the story that connect; the relations and the conflicts are similar in any language.“ He says that almost 40 per cent of the sequel has already been shot. The actor, who is focussing on content that cuts across regions and languages, will soon be seen as a naval officer in Ghazi, to be made in Hindi and Telugu and dubbed in Tamil. “It's based on a true incident during the 1971 war and is India's first submarine film,“ says Rana who has the sequel of his Telugu debut, Leader (2010) lined up later.

Having produced the National Award-winning Telugu film Bommalata (2004), he is also producing the Telugu remake of last year's Marathi hit Poshter Boyz, in association with Akshay Kumar. Explaining how cinema has brought the world closer, Rana says, “Today, a filmmaker sitting in Mumbai can make a film in Madurai. In India, we have five big film industries and together they make the biggest movie industry in the world. That's our strength. We have access to different kinds of cinema. If we have a great story, we can take it across to a wider audience.“