Rana Daggubati

Roll Rida – born Rahul Kumar Velpula in Karimnagar, Telangana, India on January 26, 1989 – is a rapper, musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work in Telugu cinema (a.k.a. Tollywood) and his viral hit “Patang.” His musical journey began while attending CVR College of Engineering when he started his first band after he became locally known for his singing. In 2013, he came to internet prominence when his song “Patang” went viral on social media, hitting over 14 million views. Roll Rida followed that single with a handful of songs before making his Tollywood debut in 2015 with his songs “Chiranjeevi” from the film Bruce Lee and “Pawan Kalyan” from Gopala Gopala. In 2017, he finally quit his full-time job in order to focus solely on his music career. Acknowledged as the first Telangana native to release a rap song in his native language of Telugu, Roll Rida scored a hit in 2018 with “Arupu,” a collaboration with Syed Kamran. That same year, he was a contestant on the reality show Bigg Boss 2. Roll Rida began to work with some of Tollywood’s finest musical directors – including Devi Sri Prasad, M. M. Keeravani, Anoop Rubens, and S. S. Thaman – and collaboraed with other Indian artists including Divine (Vivian Wilson Fernandes), Dan Madhireddy, the Hyderabad Nawabs, and others. A part-time actor, Roll Rida has been a voice talent in several productions and made his film debut in the movie 90ML in 2019. He’s continued to record music for the Tollywood industry including “Cinema Teesinam” (from 2021’s Cinema Bandi), “Donal Daggu” (from 2022’s Hero), “Date Night” and “Rowdy Boys Title Song” (from 2022’s Rowdy Boys) and “Poonakaalu Loading” (from 2023’s Waltair Veerayya).