OTT Review – Dayaa

Cast : JD Chakravarthy, Ramya Nambessan, Eesha Rebba, Josh Ravi, Vishnu Priyaa and others
Director : Pavan Sadineni
Producers : Shrikant Mohta, Mahendra Soni
Music : Shravan Bharadwaj
Release : August 04, 2023
Streaming On: Disney + Hotstar

Dayaa marks the OTT debut of JD Chakravarthy. The web series is directed by Pavan Sadineni and has Eesha Rebba and Ramya Nambeesan in key roles. The suspense thriller has music by Shravan Bhardwaj and is now streaming on Hotstar.

Plot

Dayaa(JD Chakravarthy) is a freezer van driver who is working extra hours to make money as his wife(Eeesha Rebba) is pregnant. One fine day, he accepts delivery and gets the shock of his life when he sees a dead body in the van. Things become even more chaotic when Dayaa finds out that the dead body is of a famous crime journalist(Ramya Nambeesan). What will Dayaa do now? How did the body come into his van?, how did he manage to deal with the body? and what is the backstory behind this body? To know the answers, you need to watch the show.

Performances

It was really good to see JD Chakravarthy on screen after a long time in a meaningful role. He as Dayaa does complete justice to the role. The way he portrays innocent emotions, and changes gear in the last few episodes is brought out so well by JD. In fact, Dayaa is one of the most settled performances of his career and JD has nailed it. Josh Ravi plays JD’s side kick and he is quite impressive in his role. Eesha Rebba does not get to do much as her role was limited. Ramya Nambeesan gets a crucial role of a reporter and she is impressive. Her screen presence and performance hold the show. Anchor Vishnupriya was also decent in her role. Nanda Gopal in his key role is superb.

Technical Aspects

Dayaa is one of those shows in Telugu which has great technical aspects. The biggest of them all is the sound design which is terrific. Shravan Bharadwaj breathes fire into the show with his amazing BGM. The camera work is amazing and the drone shots in particular are well executed. The dialogues, production design, and editing are perfect. Each episode is under 30 minutes and is narrated at a fast pace and does not bore the audience. Pavan Sadineni should be appreciated as his writing is amazing. The manner in which he has created so many thrills keeps the audience on their toes.

What’s Good

Storyline
The background score and sound design
Performances

What’s Bad

Slow start
Dip in momentum in mid episodes

Analysis

Dayaa is directed by Pavan Sadineni, who has been in the industry for quite some time now. The young director along with Rakendu Mouli pens a thrilling story and casts superb actors in Dayaa. Half the battle is won there as JD Chakravarthy brings a fresh appeal to the entire show. His performance, character arc, and screen presence give an edge to Dayaa right from the beginning itself. Pavan establishes the show in a proper manner with strong characters and their backstories.

The best part of the show is that there is no beating around the bush as there is not much deviation in terms of multiple subplots and wayward scenes. As the runtime of the show is under thirty minutes, the scope for error was less and Pavan is on the money right from the first episode itself. But once the plot is established in the first two episodes, the third and fourth become a tad slow as the show goes back and front in time and becomes a bit dull. But once the fifth episode starts, there is no looking back as Pavan Saidineni packs a punch with his narration.

The twists, thrills, and drama showcased are at their peak here. None of the characters overact and credit should go to Pawan for extracting solid performances from his cast. The design of the main villain as a mute is well thought of. Director Pavan has made sure that he does not glorify violence in the show. It is more dramatic and dialogue based and has enough moments that will make you glued to the TV screen.

One more asset of the show is the transformation of the key characters which is done rightly by the director Paavan Saidineni. There are many mass moments that will give the audience high multiple times as the setting and narration are on point. The mass scenes are done in a class manner and lift the show. In a way, Dayaa is one of the best web series in recent times. JD Chakravarthy is back with a bang and gives us a reason to watch this show with a lot of interest.

Bottom Line – Slow & Steady Thriller