What Is the Story About?
Disney Plus Hotstar’s Telugu original series ‘Dayaa’ is set in a coastal town in Andhra Pradesh. Freezer van driver Dayaa (J. D. Chekravarthy) only wants to return to his pregnant wife Alivelu (Eesha Rebba) quickly, after completing his deliveries for the day. His plan goes awry when he finds the corpse of a murdered woman in his van, who turns out to be rabble-rousing TV journalist Kavitha (Ramya Nambeesan). The discovery opens up a can of worms for Dayaa, even as the body count rises dangerously with each passing minute.
Dayaa is written and directed by Pavan Sadineni, and produced by Shrikant Mohta and Mahendra Soni of SVF Films.
Performances?
J. D. Chekravarthy is simply superb as the freezer van driver. His mild-mannered Dayaa is endearing, but his later transformation into a lean, mean killing machine is breathtaking to watch. The hugely underrated actor is a sight to behold in Dayaa, proving yet again how his towering talent is grossly underused in Indian cinema. The man is fiercely intense and persuasive in his maiden web series.
Josh Ravi lends good support as Dayaa’s comrade-in-arms, Prabha. Eesha Rebba is edgy and enigmatic as Alivelu. Nandagopal is a revelation as the mute mercenary, Kabir. He effortlessly oozes menacing evil, without a word being said. Ramya Nambeesan is average as Kavitha. Vishnupriyaa is efficient in her role of greenhorn journalist Shabana. Babloo Prithiveeraj does full justice to his sleazy and corrupt MLA character. The rest of the cast is adequate.
Analysis
Dayaa is the official Telugu adaptation of the Bangladeshi show ‘Taqdeer’. The latter show, written by Neamoth Ullah Masum and Syed Ahmed Shawki, had received a lot of appreciation when it released on Bengali OTT platform, Hoichoi, in 2020. Pavan Sadineni’s Dayaa is as well-crafted as the original, with a gripping screenplay and excellent performances making it an engaging watch.
However, the one thing that works exceptionally well for Dayaa is the choice of J. D. Chekravarthy as the titular character. It is a masterstroke of casting, one that has paid rich dividends for the series in every way. J. D. Chekravarthy brings his trademark smouldering quality to the layered role, not to say, his sheer charisma and screen presence.
The actor fills the frame like no one else does, keeping the viewer glued to his persona on screen. J. D. Chekravarthy is equally mesmerising in the action scenes in the series as well as the emotional ones — you just can’t take your eyes off him as Dayaa. Kudos to whoever it was who zeroed in on the excellent though underused actor to play the lead role.
The fast pace of the storytelling is another good thing about the series. Since the events of the present are connected to the events of the past, a lot of the narrative is told in flashback. The story toggles between the past and the present, but fluidly and seamlessly. The background score and sound design enhance the storytelling by notches, adding gravitas to the hard-hitting narrative.
The verdant greenery of Andhra Pradesh’s coastal countryside is used to good effect in the series. The bustling port and mounds of dead fish lend a creepy vibe to the narrative, enhancing the feeling of foreboding in the tale. The final episode hat-tip to ‘Satya’, arguably J. D. Chekravarthy’s most famous work, is delightful.
That said, a lot about Dayaa is not as praiseworthy. The overdrawn narrative for one is quite tedious, despite the reasonably curtailed runtime. Several sequences are repetitive and seem to be added just to elongate the series – the sequences in the cold storage unit, Kabir’s numerous long-winded killings, and Kavitha and Kaushik’s flashback sequences, for instance.
The latter are too many and too boring, and could easily have been chopped off from the story without any guilt. They don’t add anything to the story, but only irk us with their increasing tediousness. The last few episodes of Dayaa are especially tedious. Nothing much happens in any of them, except for long-drawn sequences of Kabir killing off a few primary characters.
Finally, in their quest to keep the story open for a potential second season, the writers have done a great disservice to viewers by not giving any kind of satisfactory closure to the story. No criminals are caught, no justice is served, and no lost pen-drive found. In fact, no one is even interested in going after the evidence that Kavitha fought so diligently for – it remains elusive as ever.
The final episode of Dayaa drops hints of a revenge saga unfolding in later seasons. But leaving the current season in limbo for an uncertain future seems blasphemy.
To sum it up, Dayaa is a bleak, blistering watch, one that certainly deserves viewing, especially for J. D. Chekravarthy’s breathtaking characterisation as Dayaa.
Music and Other Departments?
Shravan Bharadwaj’s background score is excellent. It is exciting and innovative, with the tempo rising and falling in perfect sync with the storytelling. In short, the background music of Dayaa is a major asset for the show. Vivek Kalepu’s camerawork is superb too. He captures the essence of the narrative perfectly, adding an edgy element to an already edgy story. Viplav Nyshadam’s editing is crisp and efficient.
Highlights?
J. D. Chekravarthy, and his screen presence, persona and performance
Technical aspects
Smart plot, gripping story
Drawbacks?
A bit tedious towards the end
Unsatisfactory climax and conclusion
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes.
Will You Recommend It?
Yes
Dayaa Series Review by Binged Bureau
We’re hiring!
We are hiring two full-time junior to mid-level writers with the option to work remotely. You need to work a 5-hour shift and be available to write. Interested candidates should email their sample articles to [email protected]. Applications without a sample article will not be considered.
