Rana Daggubati Wants To Play An ‘Indian’ Superhero, We’re Calling Dibs On Nagraj

Rana Daggubati emphasised on the importance of playing an 'Indian' superhero with 'Indian origins', instead of aping the Hollywood system of superheros.

By: Entertainment Desk |
November 7, 2018 3:36 pm

Actor Rana Daggubati might have played a worthy adversary in SS Rajamouli’s Baahubali films, but his ambition (w.r.t fantasy-fiction) is far from over. In a recent interview with IANS, Daggubatti chuckled when asked if he wished to star in a superhero movie. “I did one called Baahubali. That’s a superhero for you,” he said.

But Daggubati emphasised on the importance of playing an ‘Indian’ superhero with ‘Indian origins’, instead of aping the Hollywood system of superheros – which are now stone-cold products by studios (Warner Bros/Marvel). “I would love to do something in the Indian space, Indian thinking and writing. Being a superhero is an experience that you give to the audience. The reason why the Hulk, Thanos and all are so big… is because once you get into the theatre, you enter the filmmaker’s world.”

Daggubati would make a great candidate for characters like Super Commander Dhruv or Nagraj. Unfortunately, where superstars like Shah Rukh Khan, Abhishek Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan have botched up the superhero formula in Bollywood with films like Ra.One, Drona and Krrish respectively, the rich mythology of Raj Comics remains untapped by Bollywood. For the longest time, Anurag Kashyap was rumoured to be developing a project around Doga with Kunal Kapoor in the lead, that didn’t take off.

Prabhas’s Amarendra Baahubali was a great example of a superhero firmly rooted in the fictitious kingdom of Mahishmati. Daggubati seems optimistic about the Baahubali films opening a new gateway for desi superheros – “Baahubali has done to Indian cinema what Star Wars has done to America. I really feel we are in our best time now.”