Ahead of the 72nd Republic Day, Discovery+, the real-life entertainment and learning app, has dropped Mission Frontline, a show in which southern star Rana Daggubati, of Bahubali fame, lives the life of a BSF jawan at the Murar Post in Jaisalmer. The lanky actor shares with us over video call his experience of performing tasks like a running drill with weapons and backpack as well as doing the fireman’s lift and hurdle jump. The enterprising soldier-for-a-day was also trained to use weapons, fire live rounds, patrol on camel while taking part in a simulated mission to track down and neutralise infiltrators travelling on sand scooters.

Why is the show special?

It is an opportunity for the audience to watch how lives of BSF jawans are on the border. Getting a popular actor to go and live the life of a jawan is a great narrative. Sitting in cities, we make a lot of assumptions about them, over and above the little we learn from news. But their life has never been captured on camera before. The opportunity was unique for me. There is a motto that they stand for — duty unto death. Their life is built around it.

Do you get to do similar research when you do a film on the border?

In most films, we go record a few hours of what they say and come back. Here I spent a whole day with them and even got to do a simulated mission. I got down from the chopper at the Jaisalmer outpost. The day’s activity started right from the morning drill and till sundown, I didn’t even realise when the day passed.

Did you have to do anything in the drill that you were daunted by?

I have done so many action films that I don’t get scared if I break a limb in the process. I am fine with that. Here it was much more physically straining than you thought it would be. I had to carry a man and run with weapons with him on your shoulders. I might have done something similar in an independent shot in a film. But this is their everyday regimen.

What kind of training did you take part in?

First was a track race of 3.5km which we had to run in under 14 minutes. Then there was an 8ft jump, carrying weapons. Then I had to lift a jawan on my shoulders and move. They call it the fireman drill. Then I had to patrol the borders on a camel. The BSF does that in the deserts. That was magical. It was on shifting sand dunes so the post looks different at different times of the day.

We actually saw no man’s land and the border of Pakistan. When you are physically there, you feel stronger emotionally about your country. The drill ended in a simulated piece of action.

The visuals look as good as in Lawrence of Arabia. We struggle to get that in film. And here we were doing it so simply in real life. If it was a feature film we would have shot it over 15 days and with a large crew. But here all this happened in a day in real time.

Rana Daggubati in course of training with the Border Security Force at the Murar Post in Jaisalmer for Mission Fronline, the Discovery+ show. Sourced by The telegraph

How long were you there?

I took the early morning flight back to Hyderabad after spending the day with them. The shoot happened in real time. There was no scope of retakes.

Did you learn anything new that served to clear any misconception?

When we hear about the border or the armed forces, be it in news or on TV or in films, we do so about action, presented in a dramatic rhythm. But the soldiers also live an everyday life. We don’t get to sit with them and eat. Like the dal at the BSF camp is awesome! (Laughs)

Any funny memory?

I have to share this. This is the first time that I came last in a running race. I am doing a film now in similar costume, called Virat Parvam. There I am the one who is the fittest on the set and far ahead of the pack while running. But this was the real deal!

Were you part of NCC or Scouts in school or college?

Every school has NCC and I remember being part of the naval wing in the parade grounds in Hyderabad.

Any realisation that is your biggest takeaway?

The show has a physical side to it and an emotional side. When we ended the day, a jawan told me in Tamil that he had a small family back home and a bigger family here. And he is happy to come back every time. That summed up everything I saw that day of what they do.

You have worked with animals in your upcoming film Haathi Mere Sathi. How was the experience?

Haathi Mere Saathi is the closest that any film has gone to nature in India. We shot in six jungles with 11 elephants. Thailand to Kerala to Mahabaleshwar to Satara, we covered pretty much all kinds of terrain. I am happy we held on to the film, waiting for a release in the theatres. It really offers a unique feel of being in the jungle and experience the story. It will release on March 25.

Most films are releasing on OTT platforms. What future do you see for the movie theatres?

In my neck of the woods, everything has collected a lot of money. (Laughs) On sankranti, we had four releases in Telugu. In Tamil, Master collected Rs 100 crore. And this is happening at 50 per cent occupancy. This is another eco-system. One thing the pandemic has done is increase the capacity of an individual to take in content by 10 or 100 times. So I don’t see that surge reducing. All of us were a bit wary when the pandemic started. But thanks to the sankranti release, the theatres in south India are up and running.

How did the lockdown go for you?

The year has been all about looking inward. And also trying out new things. I got married. I started working with all kinds of content. The year 2020 presented a changed landscape.