Sunday, February 14, 2010

Rann : Brutal and Taunting

I will spare the detailed review of the movie as there are enough reviews in the world of Google for me to bore you with that.

My 2 cents
  • The characters are thrusted into impossible, but all too real, situations. Was just glad I was sitting on this side of the screen.
  • In their own way, one set of characters, ie. owners of media firms (Vijay Harshvardhan Malik & Amrish Kakkar), politician (Mohan Pandey) and industrialist (Naveen Sankalya), have a very simple and unambiguous outlook. Their stature in power structures and their conviction (ideological or corrupt) gives them the strength to deal with whatever is thrown at them.
  • For the other two characters, ambitious foreign-returned future owner of media firm (Jai Malik) and honest, passionate and powerless journalist (Purab Shastri), it is far from simple. They are forced into brutal dilemmas and are only as powerful as the first group allows them to be. 
  • For the above two characters, it must feel like a truck heading towards them. Very predictable, You know its going to hit you if you don't move. But you are too confused or smart to decide which way to jump in time.

What would we do if we were each of the characters?
Would we do anything different?

In brief, "Rann" is gripping, brutal and taunting. Just the way it is.
Rating : Must Watch, 10/10

What has this got to do with the blog? "Rann" highlights one of the most difficult roadblocks in India's progress, the media. It makes media stick out like a sore thumb. In the world of headlines and TRPs, content and real investigative journalism has become hostage to profits and Padma Shrees.

Here is a list of Padma Shrees : Lookup the achievements of the Padma Shree awardees for Journalism to see the decline in matter of couple of years.

2006 : Sucheta Dalal, Mrinal Pandey
2008 : Vinod Dua, Rajdeep Sardesai, Barkha Dutt