Rana Daggubati and Dulquer Salmaan not only acted together in the recently released Kaantha but also co-produced the film. On Friday evening, Rana spoke about the film and the audience response for it. When asked whether his police-officer character — interrogating 30 people at once — was inspired by Agatha Christie novels or adaptations, he acknowledged that there was significant influence.

“In our film, the investigation is not about who did it, but why it was done. We made a conscious decision to make my role less serious and more entertaining for the audience. Naturally, there’s a lot of influence from Agatha Christie and some older classic films,” Rana explained while discussing his role in Kaantha.

He clarified that the story is completely fictional and not based on any real individual. But when asked why the opening credits featured images of MG Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, MR Radha and others, he said, “We wanted to tell the audience that the story is set in the 1950s and 1960s. The present generation knows these stars differently—MGR garu mainly as the Chief Minister, Sivaji Ganesan for Kshatriya Putrudu. Here, we wanted to show how they looked in their younger days.”

As both actor and producer, Rana admitted that the story is closely rooted in Madras and Tamil culture. “The director is Tamil, and he wrote the story based on his memories of watching old films and the environment he grew up in. So naturally, the narrative is set there,” he said, adding that while a few people from Tamil Nadu had filed cases against him, not a single person from the Telugu states had done so.

When asked whether the storyline resembled that of MK Thyagaraja Bhagavathar, Rana firmly denied it. “It’s not based on anyone’s life. It’s completely fictional. There may be incidents that remind you of things actors from that era went through, but once you watch the film, those thoughts disappear,” he said.

Responding to another question, Rana acknowledged that Dulquer Salmaan’s character shows traces of iconic Tamil actors like MGR, Sivaji Ganesan and Rajesh. “While making the film, we knew Dulquer’s performance carried shades of Sivaji Ganesan, MR Radha and Rajesh,” Rana said.

On why he hasn’t done a Telugu film recently, Rana explained that he is waiting for the right script. “In the coming days, I’m definitely planning to do a Telugu film, and I will announce it once everything is finalized,” he added.