Rana Naidu Review: Rana Naidu seems to be celebrating her depravity. The premise of the show – two men with few redeeming qualities going head-to-head – held a lot of promise but the potential remains untapped.
Rana Naidu, the official remake of the American series Ray Donovan, with Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh Daggubati taking on the roles played by Liv Schreiber and Jon Voight, is a series about the dysfunctional Naidu family, their infighting, all the mob around them, and how larger politics continues to drive them apart. Keeping the show together are main characters Rana (Rana Daggubati) and the disreputable family patriarch Naga (Venkatesh Daggubati).
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Having migrated from Hyderabad to Mumbai with his brothers and wife (Sushant Singh, Abhishek Banerjee and Surveen Chawla, respectively) and a checkered past, Rana Naidu becomes the handyman of political leader OB Mahajan and fixes all the rich and powerful. of the society. Srini (Adithya Menon), Lara (Lauren Robinson) and a few others help her with this task. Her routine is disrupted when her father Naga Naidu, imprisoned for 15 years, is released and comes to Mumbai to restore relations with the family. We gradually learn that it was Rana Naidu who put him in prison, and his release risks creating problems for Bollywood star Prince Reddy (Gaurav Chopra). As Naga Naidu seeks to reconnect with her family, Rana and her cohorts work hard to fend off Naga.
We also meet self-proclaimed guru Vijayawada Maharaj, India’s most wanted man in hiding for a decade, Surya Rao (Ashish Vidyarthi) and musician Toofan.
The show is rich in sex, innuendo, double meanings and swearing. Most of the time, it is to shock and amaze and not in the service of history. After a while, the show’s focus on women feels exploitative and disturbing, and is hard to watch.
While Ray Donovan was a dark comedy that had its moments, Rana Naidu seems to be celebrating his depravity. The premise of the show – two men with few redeeming qualities going head-to-head – held a lot of promise but the potential remains untapped.
Some of the southern viewers might find Venkatesh’s performance hard to digest. The 62-year-old actor with three decades in the film industry and the image of a “family” star gleefully exposes profanity. The change is drastic and his fanbase may be confused by some of his dialogue. However, the actor is effortless in his part – he uses a quaint mix of Hyderabadi Hindi and delivers extremely offensive dialogue with ease.
Rana Daggubati also gives a controlled performance in the eponymous role. Surveen Chawla gives a decent and nuanced performance as the troubled wife. Sushant Singh and Abhishek Banerjee shine as the only human characters in the entire series. The young actors also did well, especially the kid who played rap singer Rehaan.
The production quality, cinematography and background music are top notch. The entire story-broken family works hard to reunite and actually suits Indian sensibilities. But the way he is treated is not to everyone’s taste. The Night Manager, another recent adaptation, has been tweaked to suit Indian audiences perfectly. The Rana Naidu show fails miserably in this regard.
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