THE BEST OF ALL WORLDS

Netflix's Rana Naidu is the latest entry in a growing trend of collaborations between regional film industries

-  Suhani Singh

In 2015, Rana Daggubati was part of what would become one of the first pan-India cinematic phenomena, S.S. Rajamouli's Bahubali films. Seven years later, he headlines Rana Naidu, Netflix's first show with two Telugu actors. An adaptation of the popular American series Ray Donovan, Daggubati plays the eponymous character who has a fractured relationship with his father (played by Venkatesh Daggubati). "It's the 'India' narrative," says Daggubati. "It's Hindi first, and after that you come to other industries." Nonetheless, the actor hopes that it's the beginning of many collaborations with entertainment industries in the South. "We are just blown away by the long-form format... For us, it's all very new... Getting into this part of storytelling is fun."