Social trailer: Rana Daggubati's web-series has strong premise, yet seems cheesy

The trailer of Social, India’s first bi-lingual web-series starring Rana Daggubati and Naveen Kasturia in the lead roles has released. The series is touted to have 11 to 12 episodes, which will reportedly revolve around the growing number of cyber crimes, with the advent of social media. As compelling as the subject might be, the trailer falls short and does not live up to the hype around it. [caption id=“attachment_4003319” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Rana Daggubati in a still from Social. YouTube screengrab.[/caption] The watershed in the plot is the disappearance of Prithvi’s (played by Kasturia) sister Vaida, after which he launches an online campaign with his gang of techies. Daggubati plays Vikram Sampat, the tattooed CEO of a renowned and immensely sensational tech company. He is looking to personally mentor the creator of a “socially relevant” online page. Therefore, the gang and the CEO are meant to cross paths. Daggubati’s character is desgined to reflect a strong sense of foreboding — the power button tattoo at the back of his neck (techie, remember?), the devilish gaze and the wicked smirk — implicitly suggesting the impending occurrence of something darker. Soon, we are introduced to Neelesh, ’the hustler’, Chaand, the ’techie’ and Myra the….‘seductress’. It’s (not) hard to decipher why she is reduced to an attractive pothead punk in a gang of tech geniuses. However, it might be too soon judge the whole series by the ostensibly cheesy trailer. And so, the search operation for Vaida begins. However, there is an unknown entity that has been closely following the gang in their quest for the missing person. We do not know who that is but we do know that he likes to wear a black mask that looks like an animal. Instead of symbolising a conspiratorial build, it starts coming across as a frivolous attempt at creating suspense. Although the film has a strong premise, the execution will ultimately and single-handedly help the team drive the point home. With Kasturia, who understands his web-series audience fairly well after the success of TVF Pitchers, and Daggubati in primary roles, it should not be so hard. Watch the trailer here: