Rana Naidu

Overview

Rana Naidu is an Indian Hindi-language streaming television series produced by Locomotive Global Inc. for Netflix. It is an official adaptation of the American series Ray Donovan, created by Ann Biderman for Showtime. The series premiered on Netflix on 10 March 2023 and stars Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh Daggubati, who appear together for the first time in a long-form screen project despite being uncle and nephew in real life.

Key facts

Premise

The series follows Rana Naidu, a high-profile Mumbai-based "fixer" who solves the personal and public crises of celebrities and powerful clients through a mix of negotiation, intimidation and crisis management. His professional balance is disrupted when his estranged father, Naga Naidu, is released from prison and re-enters the lives of Rana, his brothers and his family. The narrative explores themes of family trauma, abuse, addiction, loyalty and the underbelly of fame in the Indian entertainment industry.

Cast

• Rana Daggubati as Rana Naidu
• Venkatesh Daggubati as Naga Naidu
• Surveen Chawla as Naina Naidu, Rana's wife
• Sushant Singh as Tej Naidu, Rana's elder brother
• Abhishek Banerjee as Jaffa Naidu, Rana's younger brother
• Ashish Vidyarthi as Srinivas Naidu
• Gaurav Chopra as Rauf
• Suchitra Pillai, Rajesh Jais, Tanuj Virwani in supporting roles
• Arjun Rampal joined the principal cast in Season 2 as antagonist Rauf, alongside Kriti Kharbanda

Production

Netflix announced the project in 2020 as part of its slate of Indian originals. The adaptation was developed by Locomotive Global Inc., the production house founded by Sunder Aaron, in association with the original creators of Ray Donovan. The series is co-directed and co-showrun by Karan Anshuman, who had earlier worked on Mirzapur and Inside Edge, and Suparn S. Varma. Filming for the first season was carried out largely in Mumbai.

Season 2

Netflix renewed the series for a second season, which was released on 13 June 2025. The new season expanded the antagonist arc and introduced fresh cast additions while continuing the Naidu family storyline.

Reception

On release, Rana Naidu attracted significant viewership on Netflix in India and entered the platform's weekly global non-English top ten chart. Critical response was mixed: reviewers acknowledged the performances of Venkatesh Daggubati and the supporting ensemble, while some criticised the heavy use of profanity, violence and sexual content, as well as the closeness of its plot beats to the source material. The series drew particular attention for marking Venkatesh's debut in streaming and Hindi-language work after a long career in Telugu cinema.

Controversies

Following its premiere, the series faced public and political objections over its language and depiction of violence. Petitions were filed in courts seeking action against the explicit content, and there were calls in some quarters for stricter regulation of streaming content in India. The makers and platform defended the show as adult content released under Netflix's mature rating.

Significance

The series is notable as one of the first major Indian streaming projects to bring together two leading actors of the Daggubati family, a prominent name in Telugu cinema, on a Hindi-language platform. It also represents an early instance of a Showtime property being formally adapted for the Indian market, reflecting the growing trend of remaking established international intellectual property for domestic streaming audiences.

Related topics

• Rana Daggubati
• Venkatesh Daggubati
• Daggubati family
• Netflix India
• Ray Donovan
• Karan Anshuman
• Surveen Chawla
• Abhishek Banerjee
• Indian web series