Mumbai: South Superstar Rana Daggubati, Creator & Director Karan Anshuman, and Series Head at Netflix Tanya Bami discussed the upcoming 2nd season of ‘Rana Naidu’ in an Exclusive IANS interview. They touched on topics like the delay between seasons, Rana's experience playing the lead character, and Karan's approach to handling a legacy title. Then, Tanya shared insights on content strategy, while Rana discussed his approach to identifying and promoting unique content. The conversation also explored language dynamics on set and teased upcoming projects, although specific details about ‘Guns and Gulabs’ and ‘Mindhunter’.
#RanaDaggubati #KaranAnshuman #TanyaBami #RanaNaidu #ExclusiveInterview #Actor&Director #GunsandGulabs #Mindhunter #Trending #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #IANS
#RanaDaggubati #KaranAnshuman #TanyaBami #RanaNaidu #ExclusiveInterview #Actor&Director #GunsandGulabs #Mindhunter #Trending #BollywoodNews #BollywoodGossips #BollywoodUpdates #BollywoodNews #Bollywood #Bollywoodcelebrity #BollywoodHindiNews #IANS
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00:00Hello everyone, welcome to INS and congratulations for the second season of Ran and I Do, that's
00:04about to come. My first question is to all three of you, a little more than two years
00:09since the first season, why so much of it? Oh, I was going to, I thought it was, I thought
00:14it was very quick, oh sorry, that's all it is. Listen, it's, I mean, okay, yes, I can
00:19understand from the perspective of the fans, but I like really from the process of just,
00:24you know, thinking of it, making it, before making, writing it, and then just like really
00:31putting it out there to be higher than the first season. We need that much time. We want
00:37to bring the best, but yes, I take your point. I think the endeavor is to come sooner and
00:43sooner, but this person here is responsible. Kevan? Yeah, no, it's, you know, it takes three,
00:48four months to write, six to eight months to shoot, and then another eight months of post
00:53production. So just add that up. If you're not doing anything else at all, and going
00:57at a dentist every day, then that's the time frame it takes to put something as, as sprawling
01:03as Rana Night. Of course, as, you know, more contained shows and series and things that,
01:07which are not so ambitious, and not working with so many, you know, talented people, who
01:14have so many dates to give out to people. So all these, you know, juggling these things
01:22and so passing the baton on to Rana.
01:26So yeah, before you ask the question, I thought we were really quick.
01:28Coming up with part two, so.
01:30Okay, okay. And now tell me, what's the fun part of playing the lead character, the title
01:35character?
01:36Fun part of it?
01:37Yeah.
01:38Rana and I do, and fun don't actually go together in some ways.
01:42No, the process, the creative process.
01:44Well, I think it's a character that's extremely deep. There's, there's so much of trauma that
01:51isn't spoken about. And I think that's a very classic thing with, with Indian males in that
01:56sense, who, who are like heads of families, or that there's a certain over burden of a
02:02responsibility, which is never spoken about. And I think this family of the Naidus encapsulates
02:09all that, whether it's the father and son that have an issue, whether it's the husband
02:15and wife that have issues, whether it's the siblings that have issues with one another.
02:19I think they all come from a traumatic past in some manner, which they're all trying to
02:25address and move forward. I think that to me was the most unique part of being part of
02:30the show. And what was fun in season two was first, I mean, we were one dysfunctional family.
02:35Now there's two. You thought the Naidus were bad, these are worse. So the rich people
02:43have bigger problems. So I think it was.
02:46Rich people have the same problem.
02:47Same problem. So it's magnified in a very strange other way, right? Legacy and all that.
02:52And this character of Naga that keeps meddling between this family and that and kind of going
02:58vice versa. I think that was fun this time.
03:00Okay. And taking from what Tanya said that, you know, you have to really make sure that
03:05it really serves up to the expectation of the audience. When you have something like a legacy
03:10title like this, how, when do you know where to stop? So, like what's that?
03:16You have to abandon it, right? So you say that about any kind of process during filmmaking,
03:25you abandon the writing, you don't really, you can't keep finessing it because film is
03:29one of those things where you, you can keep editing it and it'll keep getting incrementally
03:36better, like 0.2% better or something. But it, so you have to like, Tanya just tells me
03:42to stop is what happens basically. We have a launch date.
03:45Yeah. So there's a launch date and you know, you have to just send the episodes in. So,
03:51but obviously like there's, you could, I mean, this, this is great. Like you could, with the
03:57kind of talent we have on the show, you could just take it anywhere.
04:02Okay. Okay. And Tanya, Netflix has promised some really great things this year. I recently
04:08saw Ms. Igan again, a Netflix licensed content. Tell me what's the thought process like in
04:14terms of both the commission content like Ran and I do or something like a licensed content
04:19that's there in the market already. I think at the heart of it, you know, I always say
04:22that we'd love for our members and our audiences to really have a Netflix night every night,
04:30but can you watch the same thing every day? And we recognize that, you know, variety is
04:34really at the heart of how we all think, behave, choose. So one night you can watch Rana and
04:40I do, but after that, you may want to watch a comedy show like like right now I'm watching
04:46hit the third case. That's a really, really cool movie. So I think it also, it's, it's
04:53about the variety. It's about your mood. It's being about, it's really about being inclusive.
04:58You know, I really would, whether it's about a genre, a type of a grammar that you make
05:03with or a type of filmmaking style. I think we want to be inclusive and not really exclusive.
05:10So therefore we have, you know, comedies and dramas and action shows. We have original films.
05:17We have licensed films. We've also recently sort of set up the South Slate as well. We had
05:21Test which was our first South original. We have a bunch of, you know, titles under development
05:27and production, which are Telugu and Tamil series as well. So really it's about growing
05:34with India and, you know, really taking Indian content to the world.
05:39And building further on that, you know, the Netflix slate is very enormous. As an organization,
05:46you are constantly chasing excellence in terms of, you know, giving better content to audience
05:50every, every month, every week, every year. How can one maintain the objectivity and not
05:56let even the, you know, something which is very obscure in terms of, you know, the distribution,
06:01not let that slip away?
06:02I think it's a, it's, it's a chicken and egg situation, right? It's, it's how the content
06:09takes you forward and how you want to keep going forward. So it's really about recognizing
06:14who the audience is and being audience first. And that actually is the pillar of our strategy,
06:20the foundational sort of stone of our strategies, the audience first thinking as, you know, we
06:27really welcome various styles and, you know, genres of storytelling. But if we, if we only
06:35think from the perspective of the story, I think we'll be looking at half the story, the
06:40people who complete the story is the audience. And it is about how we are growing in the country
06:45and touch wood, you know, the audience has been very kind. People are loving the stories
06:50that we are telling and the variety that we are bringing to them, whether it's from our
06:54own content in India, or it is, you know, whether it's Korean content or our international content
07:00from the US, UK, etc. People are really enjoying that. So the endeavors to actually keep diversifying,
07:06growing and doing really exciting things, breaking some boundaries, trying new things. Now it
07:13sounds like a whole lot of generalization, so I'll stop.
07:16Okay. And Rana, taking that further, the diversification bit, I have observed one thing that you're always
07:21at the forefront, where it comes to presenting different kinds of cinema to different audience
07:26in the country, outside of the country as well. All we imagine as light piles, we last spoke
07:31during the interview. I want to know what goes in the mind of a thought reader like you, to
07:41kind of identify the content and then build everything around it to take it to the world.
07:46Like, to add to what Tanya said in some manner, I think, as Indians, we are, it's unity in diversity,
07:52right? It's just pretty diverse the way the country is. And I was fortunate enough to grow up in
07:57different places. I was born in China. I grew up there for some time, moved to Hyderabad, then
08:02started working in Bombay. So I got to see so much different culture. And I think cinema, the
08:08arts and entertainment is the is the most diversified group that you can get in any working
08:14environment. Because there's no set structure to anyone, you can come from any background. And the
08:20further or the crazier your background is the better story sometimes you are able to tell.
08:25Yeah. And I think, and though with all of this journey, I still feel like my knowledge of India
08:31is still limited. The understanding of relationships are limited. And I think I've learned stuff through
08:37cinema, whatever I know in my life today. I mean, I was a terrible guy at school, I just didn't study
08:41nothing. I just read comic books and watch movies, and some TV shows. So I think that is the largest
08:48education that one can have where you need to know yourself, you need to know who you are,
08:51and where you come from. I think cinema and arts is the only thing that tells you that. And most
08:57times the business of it kind of pigeons you into a place where okay, this is working, let's just do
09:03these things again and again. But as an audience, that's not what you want. You want to see different
09:07things as every time you go. So for me, my job is okay, there is some story that's not being heard
09:12enough. Can I find a mainstream distribution way to make sure that receives that audience? That's
09:18that's pretty much where it is. Okay. And in a creative process,
09:21obsession is of prime importance. That's how I understand it. Because you get an idea,
09:27you start working around it, and then you start getting obsessed with it. You know,
09:30day and night, every moment of the day, you're thinking about it that I'll play this character
09:33in this particular way. I'll pitch it in a certain way. While playing Ranan Aidu, how did you deal
09:39with that obsession? And how did you make the best of that obsession?
09:42Ranan Aidu, Ph.D.: One, I think, from the first time I started working on this,
09:48about a couple of years ago, when season one started, I think it was, it was a dark version
09:53of my life. I come from a big joint family, but we're all a very happy and fun loving family. It's a,
10:01it's a big joint family that's the most disjointed that you can find.
10:04Ranan Aidu, Ph.D.: I think strangely, if you're an entrepreneur in the, in the media world,
10:09you have to keep constantly fixing things. I'm sure Tanya will agree with that.
10:13Tanya V.D.: Yes. Because, like, every time the challenge is different, it's new,
10:17it's not something that you've seen before. And I feel like that's what this show was,
10:22there was a large part of life that was going on. And unlike a feature film, this was my first show
10:28when I came to it. It's not, it's not a set path. It's not like few obstacles you cross and the film
10:34is done. It's like you're living with these people in some manner. You like, it's almost like life,
10:39right? Like, you might like this person for some time, something that he does, you don't like him.
10:44So there's a larger kind of relationship that you have with people. So I think that,
10:49so it was more life than performance in some ways.
10:51Ranan Aidu, Ph.D.: Okay. And Karan, you are born and raised in Bombay and you speak Telugu fairly as
10:57well or? Ranan Aidu, Ph.D.: No, I don't speak Telugu.
11:00Ranan Aidu, Ph.D.: So how does it work on this set? Like, how do you gauge the moment of the,
11:04the truth of the moment? Ranan Aidu, Ph.D.: So there isn't much Telugu,
11:06but there are some very interesting moments with Telugu that we have had. Like, we had this scene,
11:11we were shooting and it was, it was a face-off between Naga and Rana. Okay. So Venki sir and
11:18Rana are in the scene. It's a pretty tight close and they come in close and there's,
11:24their volume is increasing, you know, with every line, they sort of, and it's all in Hindi,
11:30but you know, so that one freedom, like I always tell my actors, absolutely feel free to improvise.
11:37If you, if you feel like in the moment, there's something more you want to say, or you want to
11:42move around or whatever it is. And once in a while, what they do is they break into Telugu, right? So,
11:47and one of the, and it's always about, let's not do anything that is crucial to the story in Telugu,
11:54but more, what is the mood and what is it that you want to say? And it comes naturally to them
11:59in any case. So I'm, I always try to push them into like, like go over the floor and just carry
12:04forward in Telugu if you have to. And so that was happening in this really intense scene. Okay.
12:09And then suddenly, you know, it's simmering, simmering, and then they break into Telugu. I'm like,
12:14okay, the magic has started. They're in character. Something is going on over here.
12:18And I'm going, you know, it's one line, two lines, three lines, Telugu is going on it.
12:22And then I hear the word biryani.
12:26So I was like, one sec, one sec, cut.
12:31So basically I was like, did you have lunch? I've got some great lunch.
12:35So I need a call for cut. I was like, okay, let's just be in the moon and say whatever is going on.
12:39It's going to be lunch break anyways.
12:41Okay, okay. We're in that same mood, but same lines.
12:49Okay. And for my last question, Tanya, I've been willing to ask this since so long.
12:54Guns and Gulab's second season, when we get to see, and also if there's any possibility for
12:59Mindhunter new season coming up.
13:01You always ask me this.
13:03You know, I would say,
13:04I don't know if we necessarily need to do Mindhunter. That's a very US driven thing. But whether it
13:13is Quora or whether it is Black Warren, it sort of gives you that kind of payoff of understanding
13:20the criminal system, the justice system, the criminals, all of that a little better.
13:27And Guns and Gulab's, we've got Raj and DK really, really busy with Rakth Praman right now.
13:32So I think they'll get to it as soon as they can. It's one of my favorite shows as well. So trust me,
13:39I'm always on their tail for this.
13:41Okay, perfect. So with that, we have reached the end of this conversation. If there's anything that I may
13:45have been asking or something that you would have loved to talk about. So please feel free.
13:48I'd call out Arjun. I think Arjun's addition to the, the cast this season is actually really,
13:56really dynamic. And I think the chemistry between Rauf and Rana is something to watch out for. I'm
14:02personally very excited about that.
14:03Okay, perfect. And Rana?
14:05Who was it? It's out June 13th. You tell me.
14:08Perfect. So on that note, thank you so much. And I wish you all the best for the second season.