Actor Vijay Deverakonda’s upcoming film Ranabaali has already created buzz with The Mummy antagonist Arnold Vosloo coming on board as the antagonist in the film. The film’s director Rahul Sankrityan confesses that he was star stuck upon meeting the actor.
Talking about how the casting came about, Rahul who recently released Arnold’s look from the film tells us, “We knew that we wanted a strong Hollywood actor for this part, which is inspired from a real character. So we contacted several agencies for the part. We were keen on Arnold as his work in The Mummy is so well known in India and adds to a strong nostalgia factor as well for audience.”
The filmmaker confesses, “It was definitely a moment of being star stuck for me as well as we have watched his films for so long.I hope that this sentiment resonates with the film lovers as well.”
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Arnold, who played the role of the ancient Egyptian high priest Imhotep in the Hollywood blockbuster franchise The Mummy, did have a few notes about Indian cinema when Rahul met him for the first time.
“He didn’t know about Indian cinema in detail but he knew of some films. He spoke about RRR because it is an Oscar-winning film and people in the West are aware of it. He praised the Indian style of filmmaking by saying how well we make films even if sometimes resources are limited,” says Rahul.
Arnold was in India for almost six months, starting from second half of 2025 to earlier this year. And during his time in Hyderabad, were most of the film was shot, he explored the city in his downtime.
“Arnold had some friends in Hyderabad and in between schedules he would explore the city. He loved the climate of the city and visited so many local temples there,” shares Rahul.
The filmmaker highlights a special fight sequence between Vijay Deverakonda and Arnold.
“The climax scene of the film is the highlight of the film. It took us 16 days to shoot and the drama and chemistry of this scene is crazy,” he says.