STARRING

Amitabh Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Gul Panag, Paresh Rawal, Sudeep, Manisha Koirala, Rajat Kapoor, Raima Sen, Mohnish Behl, Rajpal Yadav, Suchitra Krishnamurthy, Alok Nath, Neena Kullarni, Simone Singh, Neetu Chandra, Rahul Pendkalkar and others.


DIRECTION

Ram Gopal Varma


STORY

The plot of the flick revolves around the iconic character of Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Amitabh Bachchan) and his own private news channel India 24/7. Harshvardhan Malik is stickler for rules and morality in journalistic practices but this is proving costly for the well- being of his channel.

On the other hand, there is Jay (Sudeep), who is son of Vijay Harshvardhan Malik but completely opposite in world view. Jay’s philosophy about Journalism is very simple and away from morality and ethics of his father.

In fact, for Sudeep, running a news channel was just like any other business where morality or anything else should always come after the profitability. Jay is especially pained at the prospect of his competitor Mohnish Bahl doing very well than his own channel, which is struggling to remain afloat.

The twist comes in when a wily politician Mohan Pandey, who has undeserving ambition of becoming the prime minister of the country by hook or by crook. As Mohan knew that Vijay Harshvardhan would not support his mission, he ropes in Navin (Vijay’s son in law) in his dirty mission.

Navin(Rajat Kapoor) is not satisfied with his achievements in life and wants to become  biggest industrialist of the country with the help of Mohan Pandey, and in turn promises to help him in the vicious campaign against political opponents.

What happens to Vijay Harshvardhan Malik and Mohan Pandey’s ambitions and principles forms the rest of the flick.


PERFORMANCE

Amitabh Bachchan, the Shehanshah of bollywood who had wowed the viewers with his Auro dance in Balki’s ‘Paa’, is again at his creative best while enacting the part of Vijay Harshvardhan Malik on the celluloid. Big B is simply fantastic, especially towards the climax when he delivers his powerful speech.

In fact, its Amitabh Bachchan’s towering performance and dialogue delivery in his famous baritone that saves the flick from several loose moments in the middle of the film. The audience is so mesmerized with Amitabh that he hardly notices minor guffaws created by the likes of Riteish Deshmukh.

Sudeep, who plays the part of Amitabh Bachchan’s son Jay in the flick, comes out with a winning performance. His contrast thinking ‘media house is also a business like any other’ has been delineated clearly by him even before the giants like Big B and Paresh Rawal.

Riteish Deshmukh, who plays the character of an investigative journalist, does his part well. However, his investigation sometime seems over the top and unconvincing. But overall, Riteish Deshmukh is a huge improvement from his previous performances.

Paresh Rawal, who plays the crooked politician Mohan Pandey, enacts his part with consummate ease. By now Paresh has become an expert in playing these vicious characters on the celluloid and once again he shows his mastery of the craft.

Rajat Kapoor, who plays the character of Amitabh Bachchan’s son-in-law with an ambition to become the biggest industrialist of the country, provides new dimensions to his character. Rajat’s nuanced performance and conniving with Paresh Rawal looks very real and from this part of the world.

Neetu Chandra looks cute and plays her part well. Gul Panag, as usual, looks fresh and believable. Mohnish Bahl grabs his chance and comes out a winner in the film. Rajpal Yadav is successful in creating some funny moments. Others provide able support to the main cast of the flick.

The direction of Ram Gopal Varma is at its peak. Ramu has successfully exposed the unholy nexus between politicians, industrialists and the media. His direction is powerful and selection of actors superb. In fact, half of the work of direction was complete with the selection of the likes of Amitabh Bachchan and Paresh Rawal for their respective parts.

One is invariably reminded of Ram Gopal Varma and Big B combination of ‘Sarkar’ after watching the flick. Though the subject matter of the two flicks is quite different but they are equally powerful films.

Dialogues of ‘Rann’ are very well- written and convey the expected meaning with consummate ease. The cinematography by Amit Roy is of top notch. The background score enhances the effects of visuals and dialogues.

STARDUST VERDICT

Amitabh Bachchan and Paresh Rawal have given superb performances in this expose of electronic media and their unholy nexus with politicians and industrialists. However, the movie is for serious viewing, directed mainly at multiplex going discerning audience. That section of hoi polloi, which goes to theatres primarily for entertainment, will find the goings on difficult to digest.  A good fare