Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna are currently busy promoting Ranabaali, and their recent interviews across different platforms and languages have offered an interesting mix of insights into the film, their individual journeys and their equation as actors. While some clips have gone viral for their candid and playful moments, the conversations have also revealed the amount of work that has gone into creating the world of Ranabaali.
Vijay's passion for history has emerged as one of the major talking points. In his conversation with Suma Kanakala, the actor spoke about his fascination with history and how Ranabaali explores an overlooked chapter of India's past. The film deals with the impact of British colonial policies, the devastating famine and the changes brought to the region through developments such as railway construction. Vijay also spoke about the people of Anantapur and the resilience of the region, making the historical backdrop an important part of the film rather than just a setting.
Rahul Sankrityan's research has been equally extensive. The director has spent years exploring archives, historical records, villages, folklore and oral histories to understand 19th-century Rayalaseema. That effort has gone into recreating the period with as much authenticity as possible, including the use of Marwari horses. Vijay, meanwhile, underwent extensive accent training to capture the old Rayalaseema dialect and trained in horse riding for six months.
Rashmika has also spoken about the preparation required for Jayamma, including working on the Rayalaseema dialect and dubbing the film in multiple languages. This becomes particularly interesting when viewed alongside her own journey with languages. In a recent interview, she recalled how her accent and language were questioned from a young age and how she eventually learned to adapt while working across different film industries. She has described her journey across languages as something that happened organically, rather than as a planned career path.
Their recent conversations also revealed how different their childhood experiences were. Vijay spent his formative years in a strict boys' boarding school and said that the environment left him extremely uncomfortable around girls when he returned home. Rashmika, who studied in a co-educational boarding school, had a very different experience but recalled being singled out over her English and accent. She has said those early experiences taught her resilience, something that later helped her navigate the film industry as well.
There is an interesting connection between those early experiences and where the two actors are today. Both have spent much of their careers adapting to different environments, languages and characters, and Ranabaali demands that again. Vijay has had to inhabit a historically rooted Rayalaseema character, while Rashmika has taken on Jayamma in a period setting with its own language and cultural identity.
Their journey together has also come a long way. From Geetha Govindam to Dear Comrade and now Ranabaali, their collaborations have moved across very different worlds. The latest promotional campaign has even produced a viral behind-the-scenes moment where Rashmika imitates Vijay's Ranabaali mannerisms and delivers his character's dialogue, turning their familiar equation into a fun part of the film's promotions.
At the same time, the team has made it clear that Ranabaali is not being presented as a history lesson. Despite dealing with serious historical events, Rahul and the actors have positioned it as an engaging commercial film with action, emotion and a larger-than-life cinematic world. The intention is to introduce audiences to a lesser-known chapter of history while making them feel immersed in the people and culture of that period.
For Vijay and Rashmika, Ranabaali therefore brings together several aspects of their journeys, from adapting to languages and new environments to taking on characters that demand a completely different kind of preparation. Directed by Rahul Sankrityan, the period action drama is scheduled for a worldwide theatrical release on October 16.