Exclusive! Raana is an action-based thriller that will appeal to audiences who are looking for fresh content: Shreyas

When young actor Shreyas Manju took up Raana, a full-fledged commercial flick with Pogaru-maker Nandakishore, he knew it would not only be very massy, but also starkly different from his debut, Paddehuli. But that is exactly what he was aiming at, after the lukewarm welcome he got with his launchpad. As an immediate measure, Shreyas signed up for two films, one a very realistic love story helmed by VK Prakash, called Vishnu Priya, and then Raana.

Raana is now coming to theatres tomorrow and Shreyas is both excited and nervous to see how audiences react to what he’s bringing to the table. In Raana, Shreyas plays an aspiring police officer, whose life is turned around owing to certain circumstances, with the narrative focusing on just one day. The teaser and the trailer of the film have been high on action, which, Shreyas has always maintained is only a part of the narrative. “But we have taken a lot of effort in presenting the action sequences. The stunts have been inspired by the John Wick films and are high-intensity sequences that were not easy to achieve. It was a lot of hard work, but now, looking back, I am happy with how it has turned out,” says Shreyas. The film, he adds, needed that kind of action because it is a thriller that he falls in the ‘survival’ genre. “Each fight happens in the hero’s struggle to survive,” he says.

Raana comes three and a half years after his debut and is more like a launchpad, as far as its commercial aspects go. But it is also coming out when Kantara is still in theatres, as is Gandhada Gudi, and there are at least three other Kannada films releasing on the same day. “Every day new films are coming out and doing well or not. The way I look at it is that if you enjoy your work, people will also like it. Also, although there are films that have been in theatres for many weeks, there is a section of audience that is looking for fresh content every now and then. Raana, I believe, will cater to this audience,” he says.