It is heartening and inspiring to see Rana Daggubati coming clean about his very serious health issues in 2019 when his kidney had collapsed. Rana had to be rushed to the USA for a kidney transplant and apparently his donor was none other than his own mother.
In spite of his larger-than-life roles, at the end of the (Fri)day Rana Daggubati is only human. And so, as it happen to the best of us, ill health had struck Rana.
Though Rana and no one from his family were willing to address the gravity of the situation, cautious voices in the Andhra film industry said Rana’s condition was often caused by body-building steroids. While I cannot be sure of what brought on Rana’s illhealth I could at that point of time, with certainty say he did have health issues, and he flew to the US to attend to his medical condition.
However Rana chose to completely deny all health-related rumours and reports on his frail-looking personality these days. Rana also told his fans on Twitter not to believe what they read. We presume Rana believed what he wants to believe. He hoped to convince himself and his fans that all was well.
But a source very close to Rana’s family confirmed to me there was definitely a health problem. Rana was not well. But the family had been sworn to secrecy against outing the truth. No one talked about his illness, it’s as if it didn’t exist. No member of the Telugu film industry could ask about Rana’s health because officially he was not unwell at all.
And now just a year later, Rana is heard speaking on his health issues to actress Samantha Akkeneni on her chat show with the hostess and the studio audience giving Simi Garewal’s Rendevous a run for its hysterics.
Why did Rana live in this state of ridiculous denial about a health situation? It happens to anyone, king or commoner. Spotboy or Superstar. Does he feel his fans would not like their hero being less than invincible? Celebrities all over the world come clean about their medical condition. Being vulnerable is not a sign of weakness. It is a measure of your confidence in your self and in your fans. The most recent example being Sanjay Dutt.
Image source: Instagram/ranadaggubati