Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna’s Ranabaali is coming to cinemas on October 16. Directed by Rahul Sankrityan, the movie is a period action drama. For those assuming Ranabaali is also about the freedom struggle, you are mistaken. The team released the first episode of the four-episode Never Forget Series as part of the promotions, in which they highlighted what the film is about.
Rahul Sankrityan said, “We have seen hundreds of films on the Britishers and colonial history, but no one spoke about the famine. When I was looking into history, there was something called the Great Madras Famine (Manmade) that happened between 1876 and 1878. In a span of 2 years, almost one crore Indians were wiped off just because of that famine.”
Rashmika stated that she was really heartbroken when she first heard about it. Vijay Deverakonda said, “While hundreds were starving, millions of grains were sent back to Britain and for various wars.” The team says that the famine is indeed significant, as one crore is a huge number in comparison to the 30 crore population back then in India.
Rahul Sankrityan did extensive research, visiting Bellary, old libraries, collector offices, and archaeological departments. He added that Ranabaali is a homage to all the people who went through a lot of suffering during those times and lost their lives. Mythri Movie Makers is bankrolling this film.