Rana Naidu Webseries Review: Rana is at his absolute best in the show

Netflix India has recently released the web series Rana Naidu, marking the OTT debut of Tollywood actor Victory Venkatesh. Co-starring Rana Daggubati, the show is the Indian adaptation of the American television series Ray Donovan. Directed by Suparn Verma & Karan Anshuman, this Hindi series is now available for streaming in various dubbed versions. However, the series failed to live up to the hype completely and fell short of the audience's expectations.

The series revolves around Rana Naidu (Rana Daggubati), a go-to problem solver for celebrities in Mumbai. Rana Naidu hates his father, Naga Naidu (Venkatesh Daggubati), who comes to Mumbai after 15 years of imprisonment. The series tells the story of why Rana Naidu hates his father, how his life changed with the arrival of Naga Naidu, and what made Naga Naidu land up in jail.

As the title suggests, Rana gets the lion's share of the screen time, and the actor is at his absolute best in the show. Rana does complete justice to the role of Rana Naidu, from intense screen presence to subtle performance in emotional scenes. Victory Venkatesh gets a completely new makeover with the series, playing a character with grey shades and mouthing foul language. Though it takes time initially to get adjusted to it, Venkatesh proves that he can play any sort of role with conviction.

However, the series failed to engage the audience due to weak writing and a wafer-thin plot. The sub-plots lack depth and consistency, and the family drama isn't etched well. The series is boring for the most part, and the directors failed to write an engaging narrative despite having the best actors by their side. The editing team did a poor job, as the series has many sluggish sequences causing an extreme amount of boredom.

The series also indulges in excessive skin show and cuss words, which are used way more than the requirement, irritating the viewers. The presentation is very flat, and there are absolutely no high moments in the show.

The production values are good, and the music by John Stewart Eduri is decent. The cinematography by Jayakrishna Gummadi is fair, as the dark crime world is nicely captured through his lens. The Telugu dubbing is excellent.

On the whole, Rana Naidu is a crime action drama that works to an extent. The last few episodes offer a few good moments, but it is too late by then as the viewer loses interest. Rana and Venkatesh's brilliant performances are let down by writing issues and lengthy runtime. The show could have been told in a crisp manner, but it is dragged excessively, making things worse. Viewers can still give the series a shot for Venky and Rana, but they should keep their expectations in check.