‘D/O Prasad Rao Kanabadutaledu’ series review: This vigilante thriller confuses pace with nuance

"D/O Prasad Rao Kanabadutaledu" offers a fast-paced vigilante thriller that disappoints with shallow characters and a conservative outlook.

We live in times when filmmakers are increasingly insecure about keeping restless viewers invested in a story. This has resulted in storytellers shaping narratives that frenetically jump from one sequence to another, without context or substance, so that distraction may not be an option. The characters do not talk; they shout. And the bombastic background score screams for attention. Every scene turns into a loud statement.

ZEE5’s Telugu web series D/O Prasad Rao Kanabadutaledu (Prasad Rao’s daughter is missing), helmed by Krishna Poluru, takes this desperation to new heights. While leaving little to a viewer’s imagination right from its title, the show shifts between three timelines that influence the events in the life of a missing girl. The crime scene is visualised as a narrative hook to unpack discussions on conservative parenting, the dreams and aspirations of a girl child, intergenerational trauma and vigilante justice.

Prasad Rao (Rajeev Kanakala) is on the lookout for his daughter, Swati (Vasanthika Macha), who has not attended his calls for hours. Rebecca Joseph (Udayabhanu), a police officer, is entrusted with a missing case.

While Rebecca investigates various dimensions of the girl’s life, the screenplay moves between two flashback episodes — a traumatic past involving a group of children in a village, and various vignettes from Swati’s life, offering a peek into her upbringing.

D/O Prasad Rao Kanabadutaledu reduces its characters to unidimensional entities. Prasad is the caring yet conservative father. Swati is a responsible yet ambitious daughter. Prasad’s wife, Sujatha (Bindu Chandramouli), is her daughter’s ally, strictly bound by domestic duties. Rebecca is the generally curt, no-nuisance cop. Every sequence reinforces these traits, lest you forget what they stand for.

The primary issue with the show is the absence of rhythm in the storytelling and lack of emotional graph. The narrative allows little room to build a character and generate tension — the primary ingredient of a thriller. Even with the breakneck screenplay, the story makes very little progress, obsessing over repetitive animated reaction shots. This, perhaps, is a result of the director’s tryst with television.