A hard hitting RGV kind of a movie was long due from the experimental director Ram Gopal Verma. And with “Rann” he strongly strikes back with his own kind of cinema, wherein he only believes in telling his stories as they are, irrespective of their expected prospects at the box office. Hence, you may love it or not, but “Rann” has something to tell to the wide unaware population of the country, who just go on believing whatever they see on the small screens playing in their houses.
The movie is based on the news channel networks in the media and talks about the unhealthy competition prevailing within the industry to get higher TRPs than the rival channels. RGV in his own unique style blatantly reveals the hidden truth behind the so called Sting Operations shown on the news channels, which are capable of generating a massive reaction among the general public. With “Rann”, he tries to enlighten the viewers with the real purposes of these cunning & deliberate operations tried by one party of a country against the other.
As it should be, RGV straight away comes to the point in the first 15 minutes itself and does not waste time in establishing his artists in their respective roles. The viewer simply is given the hint, that this is not a usual kind of drama comprising some unwanted romantic angles inserted in the storyline and a few song sequences to ease him out. So, the director makes his intentions very clear right from the start.
But as expected, “Rann” is not a media bashing movie. Instead it’s a movie more interested in showcasing the underground nexus existing between the clever politicians and media networks who are helplessly dependent upon the mercy of these policy makers. It tries to awaken the general public with the fact that today, news is not being reported truthfully, but it’s being created tactfully in order to survive in this tiring competition. So, everything seen on the news channel may not be true and hence the public has to take the right decision with its own intelligence and instinct. Otherwise the common voter is nothing but only a puppet in the hands of this combined group of corrupt politicians and media men.
However, “Rann” does not entirely focus on the negative side of the topic. RGV rightly shows both the positive and negative sides of the people involved in the nexus and has his lead characters in the storyline, still having their truthful conscience alive and kicking. Moreover, very insightfully, the director shows Three kinds of mindsets prevailing in a society. Amitabh & Ritesh are the two protagonists fighting for their true spirits of a sincere journalist. Paresh Rawal, Rajat Kapoor, Sudeep, Mohnish Behl and Suchitra Krishnamurthy are the ones only interested in the wrong side of the game. But the third section is full of people like Gul Panang, Neetu Chandra and Simone Singh who are neither interested nor willing to participate in any such activity on the social front. Sadly these are the kind of people who constitute a major part of our huge population and let the bad people continue with their ugly tricks of the trade.
“Rann” commences slowly, comes to the main point directly and starts making an impact. It leaves you thinking with an interesting intermission and then goes on to reveal the darker side of the greedy personas on the screen dressed in all white. The climax comes up with a well written and superbly rendered speech by the one & only Amitabh Bachchan who is ashamed of himself being a part of the game played on his own channel unknowingly. Amitabh is once again superlative in his brilliant act of a sincere owner of a news channel who wants to run his channel on his own moral principles. But surprisingly, he hasn’t got many scenes in the movie apart from the main climax. In fact the movie majorly revolves around Sudeep, who plays Amitabh’s son and performs brilliantly in the role assigned. He manages to impress, standing in between the giants of Indian cinema (Amitabh & Paresh Rawal). RGV once again gives the Industry a rather unknown actor who has got the talent and capabilities to handle tougher roles as proved in “Rann”.
Paresh Rawal, returns on the screen as the main villain and proves why he is considered as one of most talented actors of the current times. Ritesh Deshmukh surprises you with his superb portrayal of a calm and sincere journalist, who refuses to accept the unhealthy norms of the trade and is willing to quit. Mohnish Behl is great as the owner of a rival channel. Rajat Kapoor fits to his role of an Industrialist as a T. Suchitra looks ravishing and acts well as the in-house spy. Gul Panang looks delightful on the screen. Both Neetu Chandra and Simone Singh are just fine and Rajpal Yadav does bring some relief moments in the tense script.
Interestingly, Censor banned the use of “Jan Gan Man” composition in one of the songs in the movie, but quite amazingly missed out on the lyrics of all the other tracks used in it. Try to hear the cruel remarks made in the songs running in the background. Cinematography is of top rate especially in the climax speech of Amitabh. Dialogues are sharp and hard hitting as expected from an RGV film made on social issues. Background score is well arranged and adds to the tension created on the screen.
The movie has its own drawbacks as there are very few relief moments in its narration, becomes a little slow in the second half and has a basic plot resembling with Madhur Bhandarkar’s “Corporate”. But it’s unarguably more thought provoking and relevant in the current scenario. Ram Gopal Verma is right there visible in the entire film and impresses you the most in the scenes where Paresh Rawal is interacting with his silent mother, Amitabh is explaining the irrelevant difference between a Hindu and a Muslim, Sudeep trying to cope up with the extreme pressure of being successful, his suicide scene and the well written climax where the truth prevails in the end.
Here, it must be noted that many viewers may find it hard to digest and unentertaining as they may argue that they don’t buy a ticket for getting preached. But for that section of the viewers I would like to say that Cinema not always should be a means of entertainment alone. At times it’s the duty of the intelligent film makers to come up with films which are capable of starting a debate especially among the younger college going generation, who have the power and enthusiasm to bring the desired changes in the society.
In the past, “Ankush”, “Yuva”, “Rang De Basanti”, “Swades” and many more such films were made by the thoughtful film-makers on the similar grounds of starting a debate. With “Rann” RGV contributes to the same new age wave and keeping the box office results aside, I hope it is able to burn a new candle in the dark lives of our directionless youngsters.
In the end, I would like to add that in our Film Industry, where everyone is more concerned about the financial prospects of a venture, only Ram Gopal Verma and no other film maker in the whole Bollywood could have dared to attempt a movie like “Rann”. It’s a must watch for all who have a thinking soul and know the value of that one single vote you have in your hands which can make all the difference.
Rating : 3.5 / 5
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