In Rana Naidu, the reappearance of an old acquaintance, Mandira, causes problems in Rana’s marriage when he is already struggling with the return of his father. Priya Banerjee plays the role of Mandira in Rana Naidu.
In the show, the protagonist, Rana, is a fixer, which means he solves all kinds of problems for celebrities, making everyone look good at the end of the day. A new assignment sees Rana meeting a builder, Farzad Soonawala.
Farzad wants Rana to find out whether his lover, Mandira Sharma, is cheating on him or not. Rana takes the job. It is later revealed that he already knows Mandira, but he does not tell Farzad that.
Mandira and Farzad’s relationship
Mandira was a child star, but according to Farzad, she is no longer a star. She is now Farzad’s lover, but it does not seem like she is very interested in him or loves him.
When Rana goes to Mandira’s house, he finds a stalker outside and takes care of him, but Mandira is unbothered by that, as she has been a celebrity for years now and has been subjected to all kinds of stalkerish behaviors.
It does not take her long to understand that Farzad must have hired Rana, and the knowledge irks her. She tells Rana that when she met Farzad for the first time, he was still married, yet he kept pursuing her.
He even bought her the house in which she is currently living. While Farzad is suspicious, Mandira has not cheated on him yet, but she soon tries to do just that.
Rana and Mandira’s past
Rana and Mandira seem to know each other very well, as Rana knows how many times her mother has been married and she knows about his father being in prison. Mandira updates him about her life until she finds out that he is here on a job.
The two first met when Mandira was doing a show almost a decade ago. As Rana later tells Naina, Mandira was one of Rana’s clients; her step-father ran away with her money, and Rana helped her out.
Rana believes that she was and still is confused. He helped her as a client, but she misunderstood it as love. Mandira tries to make a move on Rana at her house to thank him for saving her, but he rejects her advances.
Mandira pursues Rana
Mandira and Rana meet again at Prince’s birthday party, where she corners him in the bathroom. She sees him with his wife and still tries to seduce him, claiming she is prettier than Naina. Rana pushes her away once again, but Naina sees them exiting the bathroom together.
An angry Naina does not believe Rana when he tells her nothing happened between them, and they start having problems in their relationship.
Later, when Rana goes to get money from a reluctant Farzad to help Chandini, Mandira subtly lends him her support. She then somehow tracks Rana to his other house, where he spends time away from his family; she never really tells him how she found out about the place.
Rana tries to send her away again, but she makes an excuse to use the washroom. She handcuffs herself in there, flushes the key, and asks Rana to sleep with her. A frustrated Rana leaves her handcuffed there with no way out, ignoring her pleas.
No one can hear her scream because Rana makes sure to put on loud music before leaving. He then sends his subordinate, Lara, to take care of Mandira’s problem. Lara has to resort to physical violence when Mandira refuses to leave without meeting Rana.
Unfortunately, this is also the time when Farzad gets suspicious, as Mandira has been too good to him since Rana took the assignment. He tracks her phone and finds out that she visited Rana.
At the Diwali party, Farzad, who is a trustee of the school, Bulsara International, where Rana’s children want to study, informs Naina that he had earlier confirmed their children’s admission but now he is canceling it because he believes that Rana has been sleeping with Mandira.
Rana punishes Farzad, but Naina once again gets suspicious and doubts her husband. Rana later proves her right, as when things get hard for him, he goes to meet Mandira and cheats on Naina with her.
Meeting Mandira again after years creates new problems for Rana. While Mandira relentlessly pursues him despite knowing that he is married, he is not entirely innocent either.
Mandira’s character seems to be there only for the purpose of facilitating Rana’s transgression, as after Rana sleeps with her, she is not seen again in the show.
Also Read: Rana Naidu ending explained: Do Naga and Rana reconcile?
