Rana Daggubati’s multilingual film Haathi Mere Saathi to be released on 26 March

Actor Rana Daggubati on Wednesday revealed that his upcoming multilingual film Haathi Mere Saathi will be released in cinemas on 26 March. The Tamil and Telugu versions of the film, which is being directed by Prabhu Solomon, will be titled Kaadan and Aaranya respectively.

Rana plays a character inspired by environmental activist Jadav Payeng, popularly known as the Forest Man of India, in the film, which features Vishnu Vishal, Pulkit Samrat, Zoya Hussain and Shriya Pilgaonkar.

“Welcoming the new year and the new normal, we are excited to bring #HaathiMereSaathi, #Aranya, and #Kaadan on 26th March, in a theatre near you (sic),” Rana tweeted on Wednesday.

Welcoming the new year and the new normal, we are excited to bring #HaathiMereSaathi, #Aranya, and #Kaadan on 26th March, in a theatre near you! #PrabuSolomon @PulkitSamrat @TheVishnuVishal @zyhssn @ShriyaP @ErosSTX @ErosMotionPics @ErosNow

— Rana Daggubati (@RanaDaggubati) January 6, 2021

Rana, in a chat with the Hindustan Times newspaper last year, opened up about the project, which he said was more challenging than the blockbuster Baahubali franchise. In the film, Rana got to work with real elephants.

“Working with real elephants may sound exciting on paper but it was extremely exhausting. Ten days into the shoot, I called Rajamouli sir and told him how challenging this project had already become. It was equally exciting because we were doing something different; we were telling the story of a much bigger issue,” he said.

The film has been predominantly shot in Thailand. Before the project went on the floors, Rana spent close to two weeks with elephants and also shed 15 kilos for the role.

On signing the project, Rana had said in a statement: “There’s a very exciting physical language to the character I'm playing in Haathi Mere Saathi; something entirely different from what I've done in the past. I've always wanted to be a part of content that can travel across the country, and am very happy that Trinity is backing cinema of this genre. It's a rare story about the relevance of nature in our lives, narrated through a wonderful relationship between man and elephant (sic)."