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After the politician, if one were to pick a profession that was as scorned, it would have to be that of the TV journalist. It is distressing that we no longer have any expectation from the news. We no longer expect (though we continue hoping) it to be entirely truthful, accurate or justice-oriented. We are happy when the media takes up for Jessica Lal and such cases and we give our full support; but by and large, we know we are helpless when we watch empty stories being paraded as news.
Then there’s the issue of making up news, as one character puts it, 'like a film'. Now, this concept has been interestingly depicted in Hollywood films like Wag the Dog, where an entire news of America going to war is fabricated and shot by a hired film producer. Heck, even Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani said pretty much the same thing as Rann, but in a tragicomic manner. Here the tone is self-serious and dark, and the message lost in all the intensity.
Plot
Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Amitabh Bachchan) is the founder of a private news channel, India 24/7. A hardcore upholder of journalistic ethics, his channel is battling for survival. Jay (Sudeep), his son, looks at his father's news channel purely as a business enterprise that must make profits to justify its existence. He hates that his competition (Mohnish Behl) is doing better than him.
The story takes a turn when a corrupt politician, Mohan Pandey (Paresh Rawal), decides to use the channel to his advantage by using Vijay's son-in-law Navin (Rajat Kapoor). Pandey aspires to be the Prime Minister and indulges in a vicious campaign against his political opponent.
Navin is the most insecure man on earth and won't rest till he becomes the number one industrialist in the country. He, in turn, involves his brother-in-law Jay in Pandey's game plan.
What Worked
The film does have its moments. The time when a sensational interview line is repeated thrice for effect; the self-deprecating joke of a filmmaker announcing a film on the recent blasts; and the one where a journalist asks intelligent questions to a politician going to be elected PM, only to be replaced with a conventional interviewer who asks aapko kaisa mehsoos ho raha hai (How are you feeling?).
Amit Roy's cinematography is eye-catching. Dialogues are power-packed. The background score plays a crucial role. It heightens the impact of various scenes.
What Didn't
The problem with Rann is that, save that one sequence and some interesting moments leading up to it, the film is a drag. At interval point, in fact, you aren't even sure where the film's going. In the second half, when you find out where the film is going, you realise that it isn't really going anywhere at all.
Ok, the film tells you how news on television is manipulated to suit the needs of politicians and about the abuse of the media's power to mislead the aam janta. Point noted.
But the one-sidedness of the script makes you question if the film is supposed to be a realistic depiction or merely a punching bag for the electronic media, which has faced enough flak in the past already.
Was it necessary to present each character like they come from another world? Malik's rival Ambrish Kakkad - who is also the head of the channel with the highest TRPs in India - mouths dialogues like "News ko masala banake becho". Politician Mohan Pandey walks around with gulaal applied on his forehead and shouts into the microphone every time he gives an interview.
Businessman Navin Shankalya smirks at the littlest of things, and Malik's son Jay, grunts and smokes and yells.
These unidimensional, repetitive and irritating 'caricatures' get on your nerves, even as the script moves from one scene to another in the most hurried fashion. It's not like they aren't long drawn enough to induce yawns, but the story in itself seems to move at a snail's pace.
You never watch a Ram Gopal Varma film to see a great story. You watch his films to see what he has done with those stories - what you call a 'treatment' director.
Over the years, Varma has used, and abused, the same treatment in his films to such an extent that it has lost its novelty and fun factor now. Extreme close-ups, dark environs, a garish back ground score.
If he insists on continuing with his style of filmmaking, the least he can do is ensure that there's a great script to back it up. This one, though, seems to be a rush job.
Performances
Performances are earnest. Bachchan, despite being present in only a few scenes, is powerful. Riteish Deshmukh does well in an intense role, while Sudeep goes overboard at most times. Gul Panag shrieks through most of the film. The troika of Paresh Rawal, Rajat Kapoor and Mohnish Behl remind you of Subhash Ghai villains - plotting and planning and grinning pointlessly.
The most poignant of all scenes, the finale monologue, has earned the film its stars. Translated in English, Malik says– 'News was meant to be the aim, and money its means. Now money is the aim, and news is the means of getting it’. And then Malik questions this with a powerful kyon (why?). Now that’s the part we were hoping the film would give us a perspective on.
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