Responding to a question on what’s next for cinema, Rana said, “Do I have the answer for it right now? Not really. Because we are all just one year into it and we are all figuring out which films to make. I think all stories will find their place. But (it will take) three-four years of making, watching, and consuming them.”



Citing the example of Kantara, Rana said, “It didn’t matter what language the film was made in, everyone watched it in the language they preferred and ended up feeling the same. Earlier, we used to say that films should come out in all languages on the same date. But now we are seeing that if a film works in Kannada then 15 days later or a month later, it comes out in Telugu. And it still does the same job. You will see deferred releases and releases that can be localised. Earlier, this trend of pan-India films was (about spending) 10-15 crores in terms of publicity, otherwise, you would not even reach anywhere. But Pushpa and Kantara broke that whole myth. They spent what they had to spend in their region, and the whole country went to watch it. I think these systems (of pan-India mega-budget releases) will keep changing, and everybody will keep finding what is their type of affordable cinema.”