MUMBAI: Actor Rana Daggubati says as he began journeying with the character "Aranya", which involved him spending time in the forest, he understood how a man from the jungles would look like.

For his forthcoming movie "Aranya", he took his body transformations to the extreme, undertook immense physical and mental efforts to portray the character.

"As I began journeying with the character, which involved me spending time in the forest and getting to know a herd of elephants, it started becoming clearer how this person, a forest man, would look. And here we are, looking at Aranya/Bandev/Kaadan in his present form," said Rana.

The tri-lingual movie shot in two different countries, in four forest locales in Kerala, Mahabaleshwar, Mumbai in India, and in Thailand, took 250 days to shoot, involving 145 cast and crew.

Rana is the protagonist in all three titles. While Pulkit Samrat plays Rana's parallel lead in the Hindi version, southern actor Vishnu Vishal essays the role in "Kaadan" and "Aranya".

The heroines in all three versions are Shriya Pilgaonkar and Zoya Hussain.

The movie is inspired by the unfortunate event of humans encroaching upon the elephant corridor in Kaziranga, Assam. The film traces the narrative of a man, essayed by Rana, who dedicates most of his life living in the jungle, with the sole purpose of protecting wild animals.

Produced by Eros International, the film's VFX has been done by Prana Studios, who have worked on Hollywood biggies such as "Life Of Pi", "Thor" and the Bollywood film, "Detective Bymokesh Bakshi".

It is slated to hit the screens on April 2.

SOURCE: IANS