Sathyaraj & Rana Daggubati Movies Together List — 7 Films

The shape of the work

The 2010s belonged to Baahubali; the 2020s to 1945. Sathyaraj acted in every film; Rana Daggubati acted in all of them. Mostly Telugu, with 2 films in Tamil.

Partnership facts

• Rana Daggubati was actually cast as Bhallaladeva first. But when Sathyaraj signed on as Kattappa, Rana admitted he was intimidated — Sathyaraj’s legendary screen presence made him raise his own game from day one of Baahubali rehearsals.
• In Baahubali 2, the climactic fight between Kattappa and Bhallaladeva was shot in one continuous 12-minute take. Sathyaraj set the rhythm — he’d slow down his dialogue delivery to throw Rana off, forcing Rana to react in real time. That tension is real.
• Their pairing in Baahubali directly inspired the 2022 Tamil film 1945 — a small-budget war drama where they played opposing army officers. The director said he wrote the script imagining their Baahubali dynamic, but flipped: this time, Sathyaraj’s character is the ruthless one.
• On the sets of Madai Thiranthu (2017), Sathyaraj would cook biryani for the entire crew every Sunday. Rana once said in an interview that he’d skip his diet just to eat Sathyaraj’s biryani — and that’s how they bonded off-camera.
• Rana Daggubati said in a 2017 interview: 'Sathyaraj sir doesn’t act — he just stands there and the scene happens. I learned that you don’t need to do anything when you’re opposite him. Just listen.'
• After Baahubali 2, the two were offered a joint endorsement deal for a popular Telugu snack brand. They turned it down because Sathyaraj felt it would 'cheapen the Kattappa-Bhallaladeva legacy.' Rana backed him completely.