Rana Daggubati sheds 15 kg for Haathi Mere Saathi Movie

Recent reports says that Bahubali star Rana Daggubati had shed 15 kg for his upcoming movie Haathi Mere Saathi. Over the last four-five years, Rana Daggubati has been gaining and losing weight like it’s no big deal. 

After beefing for the Baahubali franchise, he lost muscle to play a navy officer in Ghazi. He lost some more weight to look leaner to play a money lender in Nene Raju Nene Mantri. Soon after the film’s release, he got back into fitness to complete some leftover portion of his upcoming period film 1945. 

For his upcoming trilingual film Haathi Mere Saathi, Rana has shed around 15 kg to play a mahout. He plays a character called Bandev and the film’s first look was unveiled on January 1, 2018. To be directed by Prabhu Solomon, the film is said to be a modern-day adaptation of Haathi Mere Saathi and it’ll be shot in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. 
In an interview, Rana said that “After finishing Baahubali, I was aware that I’d have to lose weight to play any character. So, I started the process slowly. To get in shape for Haathi Mere Saathi, I didn’t eat non-veg for almost six weeks. I stopped weight training and did simple cardio exercises to shed the muscle. I lost almost 15 kg.” It is announced the eponymous franchise will be a tribute to the old classic and will go on floors in January next year. 

Inspired from true events, the remake will be directed by Prabhu Solomon who has earlier directed movies like Mynaa, Kumki, and Kayal. Filming of the remake will commence in Thailand and then travel to various locations across India. Rana has an interesting line up of projects. He recently announced that he’ll play Travancore king Marthanda Varma. To be directed by K Madhu, the pre-production work on the project is already underway. In his other period film 1945, he plays a soldier in Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army.