Rana Naidu: Is Rana Naidu Based on a Real Person?

The second season of the Netflix Original series ‘Rana Naidu’ brings another dangerous turn in the protagonist’s life. The action thriller opens with the news of Rana’s retirement from his job, which is immediately followed by a video of his kidnapped son.. In a fight to save his son, Rana kills the cousin of the don of Koliwada, Rauf Mirza, whom he once put behind bars. As the don comes for him, hungry for revenge, Rana makes a deal with the billionaire Oberois and attempts to strike a deal that promises to secure his family’s future. Now begins a series of events where each side fights for revenge and survival. The fixer of stars, Rana Naidu, is faced with the truth of his crime-infested life; he must carefully thread the needle to save his family and survive the game of prey and predator. The crime drama stars Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh Daggubati and is supported by a phenomenal cast, including Abhishek Banerjee, Surveen Chawla, Sushant Singh, and Ashish Vidyarthi. SPOILERS.

The Character of Rana Naidu is Likely Inspired by Real-Life Fixers

Rana Naidu is a fictional character created by the writing team for the show, including big names such as Karmanya Ahuja and B. V. S. Ravi. Being an official adaptation of the television series ‘Ray Donovan,’ the titular protagonists bear a close resemblance, both of them being fixers for the elite. It appears that Rana further draws inspiration from real-life fixers, such as the infamous Anthony Pellicano and Eddie Mannix, who maintained a client list of media models and engaged as mediators, often using drastic measures. These included phone tapping, information theft, and bribing. Rana’s eventual imprisonment and realization that he shall be answerable to the law for his actions also mimic the reality of most such real-life criminals, adding a patch of morality to this fictional narrative.

Rana Daggubati, sharing his experience of playing this role, admits that the movie parallels the dark reality of the media industry in some ways. Seeing the show as a biopic, Rana brings a spotlight to the ways in which reality often uses mediators. In such a widely unstructured business, especially with the presence of multilingual facets, one often faces trouble and looks for ways to fix things. With glamour blinding the reality behind things in the media, the revelation of the ugly truth uses the media itself and forms a narrative that can portray the experience of an insidious side of the industry. From characters like Prince Reddy and OB Mahajan to the corrupted Oberoi family, the film puts emphasis on the ways in which the powerful resort to brutal fixing tactics to whitewash their corruptive workings.

Rana Naidu Depicts the Real Struggle Between Family and Work

Rana comes out of retirement to finish one final job to secure his family’s future. But, over the course of the story, the family-devoted protagonist is repeatedly accused of being addicted to the life he has led. His work is the glamour of his invincible reputation, remaining one step ahead of his enemies. But he bows down to family each time work endangers their lives. Rana readily gives up his share to get his brother out of jail. The cyclical cycle of crime becomes a revolution around his family. His family members often remind him that they are not his clients. Unable to separate himself from the life he created to protect and sustain his family, he keeps trying to fix relationships.

Ironically, Rana, the fixer in others’ lives, faces only too many challenges, which makes the damage in his own life irreversible. His work ends up emotionally scarring both his kids and wife. Moreover, his rivalry with Rana endangers his whole family and eventually results in his brother’s death. Even as he tries to retire from the life of crime, the past refuses to let go of him until he is separated from his family’s future. The dynamics of the Naidu family intrinsically mirror the real-life emotional relationships; each member affects the other, eventually shaping the structure of the whole family. A life of crime cannot be divorced from its effects on the family. The last promise by Naga, the father who repeatedly fails and looks for forgiveness from his children throughout the movie, is a marker of the strength of these bonds. Rana attempts to replace his father with OB and tries to be a better father than Naga. The desire for familial stability pervades the story.