Rana Daggubati enters the new year brimming with positivity and exudes confidence about the way film content is going to be consumed in 2022. While there is uncertainty around upcoming theatrical releases due to a spike in Coronavirus cases across the country, Rana, who has featured in films such as The Ghazi Attack, Housefull 4, Haathi Mere Saathi and Baby, believes OTT has bridged the gap between regional cinema and Bollywood, and has opened up new avenues for artistes.

He says, “The whole process of OTT and video-on-demand has broken all barriers. Now, more than the language, as an audience, you connect with the emotions of the core characters. That’s what’s bridged the gap between regional cinema and Hindi cinema a lot more. Having said that, as much as you’d love to see an adaptation, you would also love to see content in the comfort of your own language. Now, this opens a lot more doors. ”

It’s going to be a big year for the pan India actor, who will be seen in big ticket films like Bheemla Nayak (Telugu) with Pawan Kalyan and Virata Parvam (Telugu) with Sai Pallavi. However, Rana is most excited about teaming up with his uncle, Tollywood star Venkatesh, for the first time ever. The duo will feature in an upcoming web series, which is the adaptation of the popular American Crime Drama, Ray Donovan.

“Right from the time that I became an actor, I knew that at some point Venky and I would work together. I always knew that when we act together, it will not be in a conventional film — I wanted it to be different and cool. When I got the opportunity to do this web show, I knew this was it. It’s going to be special,” he says, excitedly

The Baahubali actor feels that the Indian audience has gotten used to long form of storytelling thanks to OTT platforms. “Commercial cinema is made for the box-office, because it costs a lot of money to release the film in theatres, to market that to audiences. Unless it’s extremely engaging, with so much content available, it’s very hard to bring people to the cinema hall. But when it’s genre-specific, niche content, people don’t mind watching it from the comfort of their homes. This definitely leads to more localised and much deeper storytelling. It won’t be wrong to say that OTT has gotten us hooked to long form storytelling where you’re not just connected with a character for three hours, but you’re with them for seasons after seasons,” he adds.