A poster of Rana Naidu Season 2

The toned down approach of season 2 does harm than good robbing the show of its zing, nevertheless the family dynamics make up for the shortcomings. Abhishek Banerjee as Jaffa gets the best arc, a sexual abuse survivor finding his voice and the actor absolutely nails it moving the viewers. The new entrants led by Arjun Rampal and Kriti Kharbanda make their presence amply felt too

Starcast: Rana Dagubbati, Venkatesh Dagubbati, Surveen Chawla, Sushant Singjh, Abhishek Banerjee, Arjun Rampal, Kriti Kharbanda, Dino Morea and others

Genre: Action/drama

Directors: Karan Anshuman and Suparn Verma

Writers: Karan Anshuman, Karan Gour, Vaibhav Vishal etc

Producer: Sunder Aron

Production house: Locomotive Global Production

Cinematography: John Schmidt

Music: Sangeet-Siddarth

No of episodes: 8

Streaming site: Netflix

For those who haven’t seen season one of Rana Naidu the story followed the journey of a fixer Rana (Rana Dagubbati). The job of Rana is to clean up the mess of his high profile clients. Rana goes about his job with utmost seriousness successfully solving their problems, at home though its a very different matter. Naga (an uninhibited Venkatesh Dagubbati) played the estranged father. He had gone to jail for a crime he didn’t commit coming out of a prison after a huge gap of fifteen years. Naga is desperate to fix his relationship with the sons for the other mistakes he has done. Sushant Singh and Abhishek Banerjee played the other two sons. The series was based on an English web series Ray Donavan.

Rana Naidu Season 1

At ten episodes Rana Naidu did feel a little long, specifically the use of swear words, at times it felt overdone although the same no holds barreled approach was a major USP of the show. Season 1 was an gripping drama about a twisted family giving a psychological insight into the different psyches of parents. Not surprisingly the shows bold nature had its share of praise and brickbats making Season 1 one of the most watched web series. Now you have Season 2 within a gap of two years. The affect of the brickbats is clearly visible in toning down of the content, this makes the show less interesting nevertheless season 2 has its share of pluses specifically the drama involving the three brothers and also the women characters.

Season 2 of Rana Naidu begins with the protagonist wanting to quit his fixer’s life. However the dream gets shattered due to his son’s kidnap. Rajat Kapoor plays billionaire Vikram Oberoi. He helps Rana in rescuing the child however this comes with a cost. Rana aligns himself with Vikram helping the daughter Alia Oberoi (Kriti Kharbanda) to acquire her own cricket team. Enter Arjun Rampal’s Rauf Bhai, Rauf Bhai has a history with Rana. He comes out of jail with a the support of politician OB Mahajan (Rajesh Jais). Rauf Bhai is filled with Vengeance. On personal front Rana’s wife Naina (Surveen Chawla) becomes emotionally distant. This is the storyline in brief as the web series moves along multiple threads.

A strong aspect of Season 2 are the human emotions whether it is the subplot of Abhishek Banerjee’s Jaffa overcoming the trauma of sexual abuse and finding the courage to fall in love or the crumbling marriage of Rana and Naina. The subplot of Abhishek Banerjee and Aditi Shetty’s Tasneem gives the show some of its best moments. The love story and Jaffa’s path to finding courage has been wonderfully integrated. There is a brilliant scene where Abhishek Banerjee let’s out a shout of joy after a love making session. How he breaks down revealing a crucial incident of his past to Tasneem hugging her has been brilliantly written and enacted. Abhishek Banerjee continues his super run of form delivering a fantastic act, he is truly one of the best actors that we have in the current lot.

Abhishek Banerjee and Aditi Shetty

Mention must also be made of the nuanced manner in which the directors have depicted the complexities of a troubled marriage. The portions between Rana and Surveen Chawla also pack an emotional punch. The ups and downs of a long marriage has come out in an impactful manner. Just like the first season Surveen Chawla’s Naina is no push over, Naina is a strong woman who isn’t afraid of pointing out her husband’s flaws and following her heart. Surveen plays the part with a lot of grace perfectly capturing the robust nature. In fact the main women characters in the show apart from Surveen have also been written with lot of care with different shades. A good example of this is Kriti Kharbanda in the role of an ambitious girl who would go to any lengths in taking over her father’s business. Kriti pulls off a pleasant surprise with her impactful performance, she embraces the grey shades with complete conviction. Aditi Shetty as Tasneem is also very good as the woman in charge of her life. There is a key portion between Aditi Shetty and Rana just before her and Jaffa’s wedding, Tasneem clearly tells Rana on how she loves Jaffa as much as he does and how she isn’t marrying for his social background. This scene is a perfect example of Tasneem’s feisty nature and Aditi Shetty does a swell job.

Arjun Rampal and Kriti Kharbanda

Season 2 also makes an interesting case study of different types of masculinity. Rana Dagubbati’s Rana is the more macho guy, Jaffa on the other hand is more sensitive. In case of Sushant Singh’s Tej he somewhere falls in between as an elder brother. He doesn’t approve of Rana and Naga Naidu’s ways but at the same time he also takes decisions which go against the core nature of his personality. Sushant Singh plays a key emotional anchor in a solid manner.

The series also dwells into vote bank politics and power struggles, how greed and power fuel shifting alliances with nothing good coming out of it for the characters.

Coming to the titular protagonists. Rana Dagubbati as Rana reprises his role with practiced ease. There isn’t much of an upgrade and often times a predictability creeps in how Rana manages to get out of tough situations. Nevertheless the actor’s charisma keeps the viewers invested. Much like the first season he strikes the perfect balance between brooding intensity and emotional vulnerability. Venkatesh Daggubati as Naga Naidu has a lot of fun in spite of the reduced screen time and less profanities. In spite of Naga Naidu’s flawed nature Venkatesh makes you care for the character’s desperation to reconcile with the sons. There is a brilliant scene between Venkatesh and Abhishek Banerjee where Jaffa asks Naga on how to become the best father. To this Venkatesh says to not do the mistakes which he did, its a heartwarming moment. Arjun Rampal effortlessly slips into the shoes of a Mumbaiya Gangster whether its the dialect or the overall body language. The actor effortlessly switches between a supposed messiah and a merciless villain. Rajat Kapoor as Oberoi lends a suave charm to his role of a millionaire with hidden closets. Lastly Dino Morea as the undercover cop falling in love with Naina also makes his presence amply felt.

Final word: Rana Naidu Season 2 is a perfect watch for admirers of dysfunctional and twisted families. The toned down approach becomes a roadblock for fans of first season nevertheless second season is still worth watching.