Rana Naidu Series Review: A terrific Venkatesh, and a brooding Rana Daggubati anchor a compelling readaptation

For people who grew up watching Telugu cinema of the 80s and 90s, Venkatesh was the comfort that was needed between the avalanche of masala movies and the barrage of offbeat films. It wasn’t like he did middle-of-the-road films, but Venkatesh was a calming factor in both masala and offbeat films. His presence in a film guaranteed a sense of sophistication. He exuded an aura of a caring elder brother who would be there for anyone who comes to ask for help. That is why Netflix’s latest, Rana Naidu, is a terrific experience. Here, Venkatesh plays the politically incorrect, foul-mouthed, brash, and disrespectful Naga Naidu, the father of the titular protagonist, played by his real-life nephew Rana Daggubati. The never-ending swear words notwithstanding, Venkatesh plays a despicable father who deserves the hate that comes his way from his own family. Once again, the USP of Rana Naidu is the casting choice of Venkatesh. He might not have the titular role, but there is no doubt who walks away with the plaudits. 

Cast: Venkatesh, Rana Daggubati, Surveen Chawla, Ashish Vidhyarthi

Created by: Karan Anshuman

Directed by: Suparn Varma, Karan Anshuman

Streaming on: Netflix

An official adaptation of the English series, Ray Donovan, Rana Naidu is about a fixer for celebrities. While it might not seem that normal a profession in India, the makers get right into the efficacies of these agencies that ensure PR disasters are averted, mostly in the nick of time. And Rana is brilliant as Rana Naidu, who spends time running around fixing the problems of others, and miserably fails to keep his own problems in check. His kids stop trusting him because of his frequent excuses. His wife doesn’t trust him because she thinks he is having an affair. His brothers are battling internalised scars of their own. Rana Naidu is suave enough to avert a pregnancy racket that extorts money from huge celebrities, but cannot deal with his teenage daughter falling in love with someone. 

A rather faithful adaptation of Ray Donovan, it is impressive how the writers use the various subplots of the original. They are brilliantly incorporated into the show in points different from Ray Donovan. Rana Naidu is more of a family drama where the moments shared between the family members are the most grounding aspect of the show. The vulnerability, and the downward spiral is wonderfully written and beautifully performed by some of the best talents of Indian cinema. With a running time of over 400-minutes, cut across 10 episodes, Rana Naidu definitely warranted the number of subplots that finds its way into this drama about a dysfunctional family. In fact, in a nice touch, most of the problems involving people around Rana Naidu is also about family. Be it the top politician suffering from memory loss, Rana’s brothers finding redemption from their own losses, Naga’s fourth child trying to join the Naidu pack, or even an aspiring rapper who moves from Worli to SoBo, Rana Naidu acts as the corollary of Karan Johar’s iconic tagline from Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham — It’s all about loving your parents…or in this case… not loving your parents. 

Apart from Venkatesh and Rana, who deliver definitive performances in Rana Naidu, the ensemble, featuring the likes of Ashish Vidhyarthi, Abhishek Banerjee, Sushant Singh, Suchitra Pillai, and Surveen Chawla, are terrific in roles that offer them so much. Each of these characters has a compelling and well-rounded arc that is separate from Rana Naidu, and it points at a positive step forward. The thread involving Abhishek’s Jaffa, and Sushant’s Tej are heartwrenching and heartwarming. In fact, Rana Naidu has various representations of parents, and it is actually an honest reflection of how there is no ‘one shoe fits all’ style when it comes to parenting. 

The premise of having a family from Hyderabad migrate to Mumbai for better prospects is a fascinating idea for the way it incorporates Telugu into the largely Hindi-speaking series. It is impressive how the makers don’t even try to mask the accented dialogue delivery of the protagonists. It is a nice touch to show the diversification of our content. 

Apart from an excellent exploration of dysfunctional families, Rana Naidu also does a deep dive into childhood trauma, dealing with infidelity, the fickle-mindedness of the influential, and the bravado of the outsiders. It has a no-holds-barred approach to the parent-child relationships and is a stark reminder of how a lot of us gloss over the creases in our equations instead of putting up a brave front and dealing with it. 

Rana Naidu unabashedly embraces its greyness and doesn’t shy away from accepting that the characters are flawed. There is random extortion and blackmailing happening at the drop of a hat. There are unbridled sexual scenes between various characters. There are murders happening with alarming frequency. There is almost no remorse when people drop dead like flies. In between all of this, we have the usually docile Venkatesh giving it all as the Naga Naidu. He is hilarious, and gets the best of lines, the best of scenes, and just the best of everything in Rana Naidu. Credit to the writers and the actor for ensuring even when he is saying the vilest of things, and doing the ugliest of activities, we still see him as the grumpy old man with an acerbic tongue but a heart of at least bronze. In fact, Naga Naidu returns to normal life with his kids after a 15-year jail term for a crime he didn’t commit. So, he is also seen as a work in progress. The way he proclaims himself to be a feminist, and his politically incorrect vocabulary, might not have augured well for any other actor, but there is something inherently nice about Venkatesh that we are in awe of him trying to break stereotypes. However, it doesn’t mean what happens is right either. There are more than a few instances where I winced at the dialogues, and it felt shocking, to say the least. The question of ‘how far is too far’ resurfaces about the writers pushing the envelope. 

Ray Donovan ran for seven seasons and had a feature film to end things. From what we have seen in season 1, Rana Naidu has the fuel to run for the same, if not for more, and it is clear that as long as Venkatesh and Rana have fun, so will we.