Rana Daggubati to play naval officer in his next

Actor Rana Daggubati, who is basking in the success of "Baahubali", will reportedly be essaying the role of a naval officer in his next yet-untitled Telugu project about the mysterious sinking of the PNS Ghazi submarine.

To be directed by 31-year-old debutant Sankalp Reddy, the film will explore the events that paved way to the sinking of PNS Ghazi, a Pakistan-deployed submarine during the 1971 India-Pakistan war.

"Rana really liked the story and has given his in principle nod. Sankalp is currently giving final touches to the script. The pre-production work has already begun and the team plans to start shooting soon," a source close to the actor told IANS.

The film will be partially based on the book Blue Fish, penned by Sankalp himself.

The film is to be produced by PVP Cinema and the makers plan to promote the project as India's first submarine warfare movie.

The story is about an executive naval officer of the Indian submarine S21 and his team who remain underwater for 18 days.

"The film was originally planned to be made with actor Rajeev Khandelwal last year. Now Rana has come on board and will be seen as a naval officer. Most of the shooting will happen inside a submarine and the team has already built a prototype in a studio in Hyderabad," the source said.

Veteran actor Prakash Raj has been approached to play an important character in the film.