Who said boys don’t cry?

Reprising his role of Jaffa in second season of Rana Naidu, Abhishek Banerjee says the series explores sexual abuse of boys and its lasting trauma through his character

Does my character die?’ That was Abhishek Banerjee’s first question when Rana Naidu came his way. You can’t blame him for being skeptical. “In all the OTT shows I had done until then, my character always ended up dying. So, when I first heard the story from Karan Anshuman [creator-director], my first question was whether I would die in it,” laughs the actor, who shot to fame with Paatal Lok (2020). Luckily, Jaffa, his character in Rana Naidu, is an exception.

The actor is set to reprise his role in the second season of the Netflix drama, led by Rana Daggubati and Venkatesh. While Daggubati plays a man who makes a living by fixing celebrities’ problems, Banerjee essays his younger brother. In the opening season, directors Anshuman and Suparn Varma explored child sexual abuse through his character’s past. 

Asked what we can expect this time around, the actor says, “Jaffa is the most complex character I have ever played. I don’t think there is much [depiction of] a male child suffering sexual abuse, though it is quite prevalent in society. In the first season, the audience saw how Jaffa dealt with it, got his revenge and also learned that his elder brother was in a similar situation. In the second edition, we’ll see how he evolves as a character as he tries to leave his trauma behind and moves on in life, till something happens again and all hell breaks loose.” The upcoming season also has Arjun Rampal joining the cast.

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