Rann (2010)

Unfolds the story behind the news industry and its political conspiracies.

Director:

Ram Gopal Varma

Writers:

Rohit G. Banawlikar (story, screenplay & dialogue) (as Rohit C. Banawlikar), Sarim Momin (lyrics)

Stars:

Amitabh Bachchan, Riteish Deshmukh, Gul Panag

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Amitabh Bachchan	...	Vijay Harshvardhan Malik
Riteish Deshmukh	...	Purab Shastri (as Ritesh Deshmukh)
Gul Panag	...	Nandita Sharma
Paresh Rawal	...	Mohan Pandey
Sudeep	...	Jay Malik
Neetu Chandra	...	Yasmin
Mohnish Bahl	...	Amrish Kakkar
Rajat Kapoor	...	Naveen Shankalya
Rajpal Yadav	...	Anand Prakash Trivedi
Suchitra Krishnamoorthi	...	Nalini Kashyap
Neena Kulkarni	...	Lata Malik
Simone Singh	...	Priya Malik - Shankalya
K.K. Raina	...	Digvijay Hooda
Ikhlaq Khan	...	Mohan Pandey's Man
Pushpa D'Souza	...	Mohan Pandey's Mother

Storyline

As the news of a bomb explosion in the Muzaffarnagar area spreads, two leading news agencies, India 24 & Headlines 24/7, deal with their respective ratings and content to attract more viewers and boost advertising revenue. Purab Shastri is hired by India 24, managed by Vijay H. Malik, while the other agency is run by Amrish Kakkar, Vijay's former subordinate. Purab, an ardent admirer of Vijay, changes his views after the later dramatically exposes Prime Minister Digvijay Hooda's hand behind the explosion, and starts to gather evidence that may end up implicating Vijay and the agency.

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Plot Keywords:

truth | media | one word title | 

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Taglines:

When a voice of conscience cannot be heard, when democracy is remote controlled, WILL WE EVER KNOW THE TRUTH?

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

PG

Did You Know?

Trivia

Ram Gopal Verma was taken back with Amitabh Bachchan's climax dialog, and shot the whole speech in one take.

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Soundtracks

Sikkon Ki Bhookh
Performed by Aditi Paul, Vardan, Shadab Faridi
Lyrics by Vayu
Composed by Dharam Bhatt, Sandeep Patil
Music on Junglee

User Reviews

Watchworthy

For once, I thought the content was good, the message noble, the performances credible and noteworthy but the packaging was gimmicky, the camera angles too wanna-be and almost nausea / headache inducing and the soundtrack loud and irritating. Both the camera work and music actually detracting from the film.

Amitabh Bachchan plays one of the most respected news presenters, a man of integrity, who lives by his principles and runs his now declining news channel by the same. His son, Sudeep, just back from USA is hungry for success, is nervous, twitchy, short-tempered and also game for some shortcuts. Rajat Kapoor, his brother in law, is an industrialist who dreams big and has aligned himself with a politician, Paresh Rawal, who also dreams big, is tired of being in the opposition. Suchitra Krishnamoorthy works for Amitabh's channel, Mohnish Bahl used to but now has his own channel, which is the number one channel in TRP terms. Enter Riteish Deshmukh, who idolises & is inspired by Amitabh, to join the world of news….

All the dilemma's presented are real, tangible and identifiable. We all face them in our own ways. To go for the inconvenient truth or the happier compromise…where no one but the faceless public gets shortchanged ? Every time we break a queue, bribe an official, shut our eyes at an injustice around us, we're falling into the same trap…the trap of a thousand cuts. And, God help us, but what if there is this fundamental value misalignment amongst members of a family ? What if the son-in-law, the son and the father seem to believe in different things, have different objectives ? We can then easily understand how someone like Amitabh feels as the edifice he's built around him begins to show cracks. And what someone like Riteish feels as he see's truth being sacrificed at the altar of the highest bidder.

All performances were credible, Riteish (very believable), Paresh, Rajat, Sudeep (slightly over-strung) but Amitabh Bachchan for me continues to mesmerize…there is a dignity, a believability that shines through in his every expression.

Now for the disappointing bits. Its almost as if the film makers felt the subject alone wasn't good enough and so decided to go for cutting edge camera angles and really loud background soundtrack to mask the film, heighten the tension. It actually was not needed, the subject matter and performances were good enough, they didn't need gimmicks like this or the abandoned national anthem. There were some obvious flaws. You would probably keep your helmet visor down if you were trying to follow someone incognito nor follow so closely. And maybe you would put your phone on silent when in the vicinity of someone you're trying to 'sting' ? Also, I felt the women characters were sadly shown as mere puppets throughout the film…inconsequential pawns in the hands of the men who controlled their destiny. Surely more could've been made of the combined acting talents of Simone, Neetu Chandra, Gul Panag and Suchitra ? Its definitely worth a watch, Amitabh's performance alone worth the price of a ticket. And there is food for thought…now if only the damned music wasn't cluttering up the mind…. More reviews at ApurvBollywood...

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi Urdu English

Release Date:

29 January 2010 (India)

Also Known As:

Battle

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$1,146

Company Credits

Production Co:

Cinergy Pictures, Friday Entertainment Venture, Vistaar Religare Film Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

137 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1