'My father & I stopped talking...': When Rana Daggubati sold his visual effects company

'Baahubali' actor Rana Daggubati recently revealed that his father and him had stopped talking after the latter shutdown his visual effects firm, Spirit Media. The actor said that he had launched Spirit Media in 2005 and had to eventually shut it down as it was too early to enter that segment in the country.

"Spirit Media was the company that I built about 18 years ago and started doing visual effects. I did that for five years. The entire belief system changed because back then, I was hoping a filmmaker walked into my studio and wanted to make a film like 'Baahubali'.. But that didn't happen at the time I was doing visual effects, it happened 10 years after that," he said in the debut episode of 'Unboxing Unlearning'.

The 'Rana Naidu' actor further highlighted the reason for the sell-off, saying, "I felt like I was early on in that business. I assumed that it would be an extremely creative shop that I would build. But in the third or fourth year, it became more and more expensive to run the place. It wasn't a business I was having fun doing."

The entrepreneur also revealed that he had produced a film back in around 2005 named 'A Belly Full of Dreams'. The film had a festival release and bagged two national awards. However, it did not get a theatrical release.

He further added that he sold his visual effects company to Prime Focus, which is now the largest visual effect company in the world. As per Daggubati, Spirit Media was Prime Focus' first acquisition.

"It didn't bother me that I had to sell my visual effects company. But for my family, it was a wrong thing to even sell your business -- the fact that you don't even know how to run this is why you're getting away from it," Daggubati stated.

"So, it was almost a month-long conversation... My father and I stopped talking also in some ways because it was an odd thing for them to do," he explained.

"But I guess that was the way I moved.. I had a friend at that point who was doing a management development programme in IIM Ahmedabad.. So, it was a two-week programme on mergers and acquisitions... That's the only thing that I did and came back and sold the company..."

Meanwhile, on the acting front, Rana joined the cast of superstar Rajinikanth’s ‘Thalaivar 170’. Lyca Productions, the film’s production house, made the announcement on X (formerly Twitter).

“Welcoming the dapper & supercool talent Mr Rana Daggubati on board for #Thalaivar170. #Thalaivar170Team has gotten even more charismatic with the addition of the dashing @RanaDaggubati,” the production banner wrote last month.

Rana Daggubati's Spirit Media is the international marketing and distribution partner of 'Kalki 2898 AD', an epic science fiction film written and directed by Nag Ashwin. The dystopian drama will also have Indian mythology woven into the screenplay. Prabhas, Deepika Padukone, Amitabh Bachchan and Kamal Haasan play lead roles in the film.

Earlier in July, Spirit Media unveiled the concept teaser of the upcoming mythological film 'Hiranyakashyap'. The film is inspired by the mythological narrative of the demon king Hiranyakashapu. The titular role will be played by Rana Daggubati himself.

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