Review: ‘Rana Naidu' season 2 has better character arcs and a menacing villain

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18 hours ago

The second season of Rana Naidu is more emotional and well-rounded than the first. After a couple of choppy early episodes, the Netflix show offers fuller character arcs that offset the sweeping brutality and heavy use of profanity.
The Indian adaptation of the American series Ray Donovan stars Rana Daggubati as a fixer for celebrities, politicians and businessmen. Venkatesh Daggubati is Rana's chaotic and untamed father Naga. Surveen Chawla plays Naina, who is in a strained marriage with Rana. Sushant Singh and Abhishek Banerjee play Rana's brothers Tej and Jaffa, respectively.
Created by Karan Anshuman for India, the eight-part season is helmed by Anshuman, Suparn S Varma and Abhay Chopra. The new instalment is elevated by the menacing antagonist Rauf, played by Arjun Rampal, who brings a compelling mix of villainy and impenetrability. Rauf is a formidable adversary to Rana, always a few steps ahead and unflinchingly violent.
The series toggles between scandals involving Rana's clients and the ever-complicated, dysfunctional Naidu family. Rana is juggling a fractured marriage, tense relationships with his brothers, high-stake cover-ups and an ongoing stand-off with his father. Rana and Naga remain disagreeable characters, entangled in bloody webs of their own making.
Now distanced from politician Mahajan (Rajesh Jais), Rana finds himself entrenched with the wealthy Oberoi family – Viraj (Rajat Kapoor) and his ambitious daughter Alia (Kriti Kharbanda). Lured by a stake in a lucrative cricket league and hoping to secure his financial future, Rana is blindsided when his family faces life-threatening dangers.
The body count remains high. The Naidu children, Nitya and Ani, endure even more trauma this time around. New characters add to the drama, including the merciless don Aunty (Heeba Shah) and the suave cop (Dino Morea), who has a hidden agenda.
Rana's character is more layered, showing moments of tenderness and protectiveness toward his neglected children and filial loyalty. Naga remains the rough-talking, debt-ridden thug with zero ethics and terrible instincts, often winging it rather than operating with a plan.
The episodes sharpen as the season progresses, though some ideas feel recycled, such as a scaled-down Red Wedding moment and the familiar oblivious bystander trope.
The emotional core is provided by authentic performances – Surveen Chawla as the frustrated wife; Sushant Singh and Abhishek Banerjee as brothers torn between fraternal love, resentment and unfulfilled desires.
There are some unexpectedly joyful moments between biological and adopted family members. Ray Donovan ran for seven seasons, so it's possible that there's plenty more Naidu dysfunction and chaos still to come.
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