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Rana Naidu S2 offers less violence, less sex and less profanity, but that robs it off its novelty. And this heavily hampers the milieu in which the series is set and its texture.
Rana Naidu 2 starring Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh Daggubati is currently streaming on Netflix.
Rana Naidu 2A
3/5
Starring: Rana Daggubati, Venkatesh Daggubati, Surveen Chawla, Abhishek Banerjee, Sushant Singh, Arjun Rampal, Dino Morea, Rajat Kapoor and Kriti Kharbanda Director: Karan Anshuman, Suparn Verma and Abhay Chopra Platform: Netflix
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Rana Naidu 2 Review: The second season of Rana Naidu begins with an otherwise volatile and belligerent Naga seemingly starting a new life. These days, he begins his days in Goa’s Siolem with Anulom Vilom. One could say that he has finally embraced his age. And this precisely is the irony that sets the stage for season two because shortly after, he steps into an akhara cheering on two bloodthirsty wrestlers to finish one another and urging spectators to place their money and bets on them. And then enters his estranged son Rana, who – coerced by circumstances – has to fight a brawny and merciless Dynamite D’Souza.
Thus, begins a bloody brawl in the ring and Rana, who promises Naga that he will bow down to Dynamite D’Souza and let him win, lets his machismo get the better of him and smashes him to a pulp. Despite the mood being set perfectly well, Rana Naidu eventually ends up being a firecracker that fizzles out. This time around, the makers decided to sober down the tonality of the series – probably due to the incessant backlash they were subjected to back in 2023. So, this season offers less violence, less sex and less profanity.
Unfortunately, that robs the series of its novelty, leading it to become just another action thriller where men invite trouble and then go all out to erase it in the name of protecting their families. And this heavily hampers the world Rana Naidu is set in. Sure, there’s a lot of chaos, cacophony and mayhem but do they really leave an impact? Not really. This season lacks a certain spark, spunk and sass. Even Naga’s crass and quirky one-liners and repartees have been slashed down. The panache is almost all gone and what’s left is a safe and sanitised Rana Naidu, and that’s precisely what becomes its weakest link.
Season two picks up from where it ended back in 2023. Rana and Naina decide to take a break from the gory pandemonium. As soon as they land in Mumbai from Paris, trouble resumes. This time, their son Ani has been kidnapped. Rana requests film producer Oberoi to lend him his private jet and he sets off to Goa to get Ani back. In Goa, his path crosses with Naga yet again who manages to help him find where Ani is. At a nightclub, Rana kills the bad guys, throws kidnapper Saif into a fire and brings his son back home.
To return the favour, Rana, who has left OB, decides to join Oberoi. There, he meets Oberoi’s daughter Alia, who’s hell bent on selling their production house that has been incurring them losses worth 1000 crore and buying the cricket team of Mumbai in an IPL equivalent league. Rana conspires to join hands with Alia by keeping Oberoi in the dark and manages to secure five percent of the deal that amounts to Rs 500 crore, thus being able to financially secure his family’s future.
The shrewd Oberoi soon turns against Rana and he gets caught in a murder case. But Oberoi isn’t his only foe. Rauf Mirza, an ominous goon from Koliwada, threatens him as he turns out to be Saif’s cousin. At his hands, two murders happen. Rana’s daughter Nitya becomes the only witness and now Rauf leaves no stone unturned to finish her. Running parallel to these tracks is an affair between Naveen and Naina. But little does she know that he’s an undercover cop using her for intel on Rana.
The makers – Karan Anshuman, Suparn Verma and Abhay Chopra – deserve credit for fleshing out the stories of the other characters like Jaffa and Tej too. It’s the drama underneath the blood and gore that becomes the highlight of Rana Naidu season two. There are some poignant moments between Jaffa-Tasneem and Tej-Anna that truly will touch your heart. But is that enough for a show that spans over eight long episodes? Not really. The first season saw the writers weaving a heart-wrenching story that brings the spotlight on Jaffa.
This time around, Jaffa, once a victim of sexual abuse, breathes more freely. He’s given a rather sensitive treatment even as he tries to explore his love life and learns to take big decisions on his own. Tej and Anna’s on-and-off love story will remain with you too. It’s heartbreaking and yet not too sappy. Rana and Naina’s relationship too goes through a rough patch. The nuances of a troubled marriage and messy complexities of a husband-wife equation are explored beautifully. And that’s precisely why character-building and drama overshadow action in this season.
Coming back to the series’ sanitised treatment, in one scene, Rauf reprimands Rana for cussing in front of his six-year-old niece. And that’s reflective of the moral compass the makers choose to opt for, probably to appease angry netizens who slammed season one for its graphic portrayals and usage of expletives. Somewhere, the unhinged and uninhibited nature of the series is left far behind, which definitely doesn’t do justice to the milieu in which it’s set. Additionally, there are far too many plot conveniences.
Rana may be a fixer, who has the innate power to solve every problem and tie every loose end, but that robs him of his inherent humanness. He almost comes across as an immortal entity who comes out unscathed from a blazing inferno and after being strangled by thick iron chains. The note on which this season ends fails to be a thrilling cliffhanger as you already can anticipate how events may shape up in the third season. The performances, however, are impressive. Rana Daggubati, Venkatesh Daggubati, Surveen Chawla, Abhishek Banerjee, Sushant Singh and Ishita Arun deliver class acts.
Through Rana, Tej and Jaffa, the makers successfully offer a glimpse of the spectrum of masculinity in terms of their onscreen portrayals. While Rana is the alpha here, Jaffa is a more vulnerable version of a man. Tej, on the other hand, is the most matured brother, who isn’t afraid to protect his family but at the same time, doesn’t quite approve of Rana and Naga’s bloodthirsty nature. As a man torn between his familial duties and desires as a lover, your heart goes out to him.
The women too deserve brownie points. They’re strong, vocal, revengeful and ambitious. They’re their own beings rather than just being the wind beneath their men’s wings and it’s refreshing to see that, especially in a male-dominated actioner. The new entrants – Arjun Rampal, Dino Morea, Rajat Kapoor and Kriti Kharbanda – are equally good. Arjun slips under the skin of a local Mumbaiya gangster like a chameleon and dishes out an effortless performance. It’s interesting to see Dino too getting to chew on a meaty character rather than just being placed as a prop to up the aesthetic quotient of a show (remember The Royals?).
Rana Naidu season two maybe a letdown when compared to its previous counterpart but watch it for the performances and the emotional moments. It’s a pretty good representation of a dysfunctional family where trouble simmers at every corner, dead bodies are dug in and out on a whim and insecure fathers accuse their daughters of sleeping around. It still continues to be a crazy, reckless world where everything’s fair in love and war. At the end of it, you’re left with Karan Johar’s golden words that it’s all about loving your family. But here’s hoping that season three turns out to be a less safe and more unhinged version of season two!
Titas Chowdhury is a Principal Correspondent at News18 Showsha. She writes about cinema, music and gender in cinema. Interviewing actors and filmmakers, writing about latest trends in showbiz and bringing break…Read More
Titas Chowdhury is a Principal Correspondent at News18 Showsha. She writes about cinema, music and gender in cinema. Interviewing actors and filmmakers, writing about latest trends in showbiz and bringing break… Read More
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