In every media interaction before the release of Netflix’s Rana Naidu on 10 March, Telugu star Daggubati Venkatesh and nephew Rana Daggubati reiterated that their first collaboration is a family drama that must be watched alone. They were not joking. The dark and gritty crime drama is packed with foul language, nudity, and sex after every few scenes.
The 10-episode remake of the 2013 American crime drama series Ray Donovan has been adapted by Karan Anshuman with co-director Suparn Varma. The original show starred Liev Schreiber and Jon Voight.
Those tuning in the series expecting it to be another Venkatesh show with an everlasting feel-good factor and family drama may want to shed these conjectures at the beginning itself. Rana Naidu presents a dysfunctional family with years of unresolved issues and secrets. The premise of a broken family dealing with age-old conflicts is packed with murder, sexual abuse, drugs, infidelity, and scandalous celebrity lives.
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The plotline
Rana Naidu (Rana Daggubati), the titular character, is a fixer for the rich, elite, and famous people of Mumbai. It could be any illicit arrangement — even something as bizarre as recovering a semen sample being sneaked into a hotel. On command, Rana covers up scandals and heinous crimes without falling into the trudges of law.
Naga (Venkatesh) is Rana’s father who has been jailed for over 10 years for a crime he didn’t commit. The father and son share a tumultuous relationship, and the latter possesses immense hatred for the former. After Naga comes out of prison, he starts a mission to reunite the family, including his other two sons, played by Abhishek Banerjee and Sushant Singh. The challenges that come Naga’s way and the brooding conflict between him and Rana take the narrative forward.
Heady mix gets too much
Despite the heady mix of dark elements, the profanity often feels forced and deters the storyline, though it is amusing to see Venkatesh in a new avatar. The swearing alcoholic Venkatesh is a new persona of the actor that hasn’t been explored on the big screen yet. Moreover, the uncle-nephew duo share a riveting chemistry that even elevates some of the weaker scenes.
Rana Naidu successfully extracts the impressive, brooding side of Daggubati. The eponymous lead character is tailor-made for his personality. He rarely smiles or gives into a situation in a fit of rage. His actions — and what is expected of Rana Naidu — are controlled and calculated. If that was the memo by the director, then Duggabati has nailed it.
The cinematography by Jayakrishna Gummadi captures the dark and chilling world of crime impeccably, while the music by John Stewart Eduri blends seamlessly into the mood of the series.
Toward the end, however, Rana Naidu barely leaves any everlasting impact as there is not enough meat in the plot. Despite starring actors such as Sushant Singh, Abhishek Banerjee, and Surveen Chawla, the show is obsessed with the Daggubati uncle-nephew duo. The two deliver earnest performances, but the weak writing and runtime cannot help the show from becoming a forgettable watch.
(Edited by Humra Laeeq)