Arjun Rampal Gained 14 Kgs For Rana Naidu 2 As He 'Felt Small' Next To Rana Daggubati’s 'Incredible Screen Presence'

Rana Naidu is back with Season 2, and Arjun Rampal has stepped into the shoes of the main antagonist, Rauf. The actor teams up with Venkatesh and Rana Daggubati in the new season of the hit action-drama series. Recently, the versatile actor revealed that playing Rauf required one of the most intense transformations of his career.

He opened up about the physical and psychological preparation that went into portraying the menacing villain. He told Hindustan Times, "The thing that I felt I really needed to work on for Rauf was gaining weight. Especially because I was working with Rana, who is a huge guy. He is really tall and big, and has this incredible screen presence that I was feeling small next to him."

To bridge the physical gap, Arjun Rampal took it upon himself to gain 14 kilos. "I decided to gain weight, because that's the only way it would appear like two guys, equals, at each other. If I go at this weight, which I have now, I would really look small next to him. So, it was important for me to put on this mass and have Rauf appear big," he explained.

While Rampal is no stranger to playing the bad guy, he confessed that slipping into the mind of a villain isn’t always easy. “Nobody likes to be that guy. It takes a lot out of you. It’s not an easy space to be in,” he said. However, with enough character development and creative freedom, he’s learned to enjoy the process.

Besides Arjun Rampal and Rana Daggubati, Rana Naidu also features Venkatesh, Surveen Chawla, Sushant Singh, Abhishek Banerjee, Kriti Kharbanda, Tanuj Virwani, and Rajat Kapoor. The new season is now available for streaming on Netflix.