A still from Dum Maro Dum

Not so long ago, Rana Daggubati was just another newcomer in Bollywood. But a week after Dum Maaro Dum’s (DMD) release, it is Rana aka Joki’s rugged yet suave features that everyone is talking about — on radio, outside multiplexes, in salons, and inside local trains — especially women, who cannot stop raving about his ‘hotness’. Men reluctantly do admit that they are bowled over by his physique. “Abhishek Bachchan doesn’t have the fire in him and Pratik’s is a boyish charm; Rana was the ‘man’ in the film,” says film critic Indu Merani . “If Greek gods existed now, they would look like Rana Daggubati,” says image consultant Chhaya Momaya. Tell the Telugu actor about the female adulation pouring in from all quarters and he modestly says, “I think I am only slightly presentable.” Sexy he was in those cargos, tees, kurtas, sunglasses and chatai chappals, which he carried off just so brilliantly in DMD.

The chiselled body, washboard abs and long locks in DMD may be earning Daggubati all the admiration now, but when he first came to movies, he was “slightly overweight”, confirms his Hyderabad-based fitness trainer Kunal Gir. “Rana, however, is very determined to do what he is told. He likes to look muscular, so he works out a lot and eats a low-carb diet,” confirms Gir. While Bollywood is busy serenading chocolate boys like Ranbir Kapoor and Imran Khan, it is Daggubati’s action hero image is desperately seeking takers. He didn’t quite measure up to a simmering action hero in DMD but the potential is there for all to see. “Rana cuts the clutter and fits into this space,” feels Merani. Model-actor-producer Sushma Reddy feels that there are very few South Indian heroes, who have a pan-India appeal. “He isn’t just good looking but also smart to have accepted the role of Joki in his debut Bollywood film.”