The Rann fever seems to have spread seriously. As the film is waiting for its release on 29th Jan, the media is just behind the latest update of this media-centric film.

While actors go extend to get into the skin of their characters, Riteish Deshmukh is said to have gone step ahead by actually living in his character in Rann. In this Ram Gopal Varma’s directorial Riteish plays investigative journalist, a role that is quite different from the ones he has played so far.


The reel life character in fact has inspired the actor a lot in real life as well. “When during the film promotion, I actually went and did the job of an investigative journalist,” said Riteish, “It wasn’t easy to get to places where the actual events happened, to persuade people to shoot at locations that mattered. It was a different experience.”

"I play an investigative journalist in 'Rann' and there is a sting operation that I do. I've never done it before in my life. But it was good fun. There is this constant fear of getting caught. But when we are at the receiving end, it doesn't feel too great," Riteish told us in an interview.

The 31-year-old plays Purab Shastri in 'Rann', which is an attempt by the director Ram Gopal Varma to "expose the media".

Riteish, who has been mostly seen in comic roles in films like 'Bluffmaster', 'Heyy Babyy', 'Dhamaal' and 'Do Knot Disturb', has sported a completely new look in the film.

From his fairly long locks, he has opted for a crew cut so that he looks serious enough for the role.

"Whenever people see me, they think that I am going to come on screen and make them laugh because I have been attached to comedy movies and comic characters. I get a lot of mails and lot of Tweets (messages on Twitter) from people saying, 'We are waiting to see you make us laugh.' So I thought if I am playing a serious role, people should take me seriously and that required a certain look.

Riteish Deshmukh will have an uncharacteristic start to the year with Ramgopal Verma’s Rann that has him play Purab Shastri, an investigative journalist to Amitabh Bachchan’s Vijay Harshvardhan Malik, a media baron. Riteish, who reportedly got into the skin of the role describes himself in the movie as, “The guy with the mike and a lot of questions.”

After making a name for himself as an actor with a comic flair, Deshmukh is now looking to create a good mix. After Rann, he has within 2010, a romantic film Jaane Kahan Se Aayi Hai opposite newbie Jacqueline Fernandes (they also paired together in Aladin) and Housefull with a multistar cast comprising Akshay Kumar, Arjun Rampal, Deepika Padukone, Jiah Khan and Lara Dutta among others.

When we meet, it is Rann, a treatise of sorts on the media business as it exists, that becomes the fulcrum of our conversation. Not surprising since his political roots afforded the actor a ringside view of the media and its functioning much before his days as an actor. Deshmukh admits to being fascinated by both politics and media and is understandably excited about his outing in Rann as an idealistic reporter, true to his mentor.

Ram Gopal Varma describes his forthcoming movie as a “men’s film” and says it was natural for Amitabh Bachchan to spearhead the show in the promos of the movie.

“Isn’t that obvious? With the kind of personality and the stardom that he enjoys, it is but natural that Amitabh Bachchan would be spearheading the entire film,” Varma told IANS.

If one goes by the film’s synopsis, there are other characters like Sudeep, Riteish Deshmukh, Mohnish Behl, Paresh Rawal and Rajat Kapoor who have been described to be quite important. What sort of space and time has Varma managed to create for these characters?

“Every other character is important; otherwise it wouldn’t have found place in the film. There won’t be any character that would feel short-changed or left out in the film,” said Varma.

On Thursday night for the first time in the history of Indian cinema, the music of "Rann" was launched live on the show News Hour by Amitabh Bachchan, Ram Gopal Varma and Riteish Deshmukh with Arnab Goswami on Times Now.
his was the first of its kind ever for an album launch and fitted perfectly with the theme of the film.

The music of Rann is already quite talked about because of the controversial Jana-Gana-Rann, which got embroiled in debates across both the
media and the political circles.

Since Jana-Gana-Rann could not be used due to censor issues, RGV has replaced it with the Vande Mataram song, which was premiered at the show.

With 'Jana Gana Mann Rann' being replaced by 'Vande Mataram', the song controversy of RANN is pretty much out of the way. Now one eagerly looks forward to see Round Two of the promotion of RANN beginning soon. Meanwhile, since 'Jana Gana Mann Rann' is no more a part of the film, how much did it impact the film in totality? Wasn't there an added effort spent to replace it with 'Vande Mataram' at the last moment when the film is up for release next month?
"Not really because eventually 'Vande Mataram' is a part of the background score", says Ramu, "Since it wasn't a different song that was shot, it doesn't make a fundamental difference to the narrative."

Looking very stern and grave on the sets, a far cry from his jocular image, he’s reportedly in a very sulky mood when shooting. However, sources on the sets insist that it has nothing to do with any issues the actor’s having on the sets, with either the role or the director. Nor has it anything to do with his recent film not hitting jackpot at the box-office. Instead the actor is just trying to get under his character’s skin.

Actor Riteish Deshmukh says he was perplexed when filmmaker Ram Gopal Varma narrated his role of an honest and sincere journalist in his media-based film “Rann”.

“Ramu (Varma) narrated the role to me. He said you have to play an honest, sincere and fair journalist in my film. And my first reaction was, ‘I hope this is not a fictitious character’,” Riteish told IANS.

“I agree there are loads of people in the media today who take up issues and use the medium to bring justice, as also bring in a certain sensibility among society, but a lot of them don’t. Facts are blown out of proportion and a lot of them survive on rumours.

Purab Sastri-Ritesh's screen name

If you've got this image of Riteish Deshmukh as a comic actor who has always tickled your funny bone, you're soon going to be in for a surprise because according to ram gopal varma, this is going to be the best ever work of Riteish Deshmukh in serious cinema. His look is of a young and dynamic man armed with a degree in journalism, Purab Shastri, as he is known in the film, truly believes that the media should be the check point for the people of a country and therefore, it should report news, instead of manufacturing news. Purab's thinking sets him apart from most youngsters of this country.

Well, it is not just ‘Jana Gana Rann’ which is currently the talk of the town. The posters of RANN are out and in true Ram Gopal Varma style, each of these have their own punch line that not just introduce the character to the audience but also give a fair idea about what to expect from the film. Hard hitting with a witty undertone, each of these punch lines catches your attention immediately, hence making you look forward to RANN which is still under production and is releasing in the third quarter of 2009.