It's time for Rana Duggubatti to move out of his 'Bahubali' avatar, King Bhallala Deva, and get back to a more recent period drama. He plays an Indian naval officer in 'Ghazi'. The film is a true story revolving around the Pakistani Navy's flagship submarine, 'Ghazi', which sank near the eastern coast of India during the 1971 Indo-Pak war, en route to the Bay of Bengal under mysterious circumstances. The actor will start shooting for the Hindi, Tamil and Telugu trilingual in November.

"It's a gripping screenplay and fascinating for someone who growing up has been a fan of films like Crimson Tide and rued the fact that our submarine officers haven't been portrayed much in films," says the actor, who has already started working on his look and is interacting with officers as part of his prep. "I've met a friend's father who was in the navy for years and I`m trying to set up more appointments early next month."

Since the original Ghazi sank, they will be building two submarine sets in Hyderabad which, he promises, will be extremely detailed. The film is being helmed by debutante director Sankalp. "He's the original writer on the film and had a perfect vision to tell this story," says Rana explaining the choice of the filmmaker.

And why a trilingual? "Well, it's an Indian story and the whole country needs to see it at once," he smiles.