‘Mayasabha’ review: A heavily spiced fictional history of Andhra Pradesh politics

The Telugu series Mayasabha: Rise of the Titans spans three decades of political developments in undivided Andhra Pradesh. The Sony LIV show’s first season dishes out a fictionalised, heavily spiced version of key events that took place between the 1970s and 1995.

The main characters are based on the luminaries who have ruled Andhra Pradesh as well as the country in the past. Although the names are made up and there’s no physical resemblance, N Chandrababu Naidu, YSR Reddy, NT Rama Rao, Indira Gandhi and Sanjay Gandhi are among the identifiable figures.

Mayasabha follows two friends whose twinned ambition takes them from being nobodies to somebodies. Before their names are acronymised, Kakarla Krishnama Naidu (Aadhi Pinisetty) and MS Rami Reddy (Chaitanya Rao) are striving in different corners.

Mayasabha opens with the declaration “The story of India is the story of caste”. Accordingly, Krishnama and Rami follow parallel trajectories dictated by their caste backgrounds until they meet during a bus ride.

Krishnama is keen to move beyond his farming roots, just as Rami wants to correct the reputation of his father, Shiva (Shankar Mahanthi), as a violent enforcer. Both young men are pragmatic idealists, eager to bring about social change, but also aware that power can be grabbed only by becoming...

Read more