Mumbai: Of the many films made on the media and its functioning, Rann will go down as one of the best ones. Ram Gopal Varma has brought to life a predictable but powerful script, backed by extremely talented actors and technicians. But the director has taken many cinematic liberties.
Rann opens with Purab Shastri (Ritesh Deshmukh) watching the news on India 24/7 along with his live-in girlfriend Nandita Sharma (Gul Panag). Purab idolises his new boss Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Amitabh Bachchan), owner of the channel and a man of principles.
Malik's channel is not doing well, as the competition is stealing ideas from under his nose. Add to that, his emphasis on ethics and values makes sure sensationalism stays away from his medium.
Operating with exactly opposite business ethics is Amrish Kakkar (Mohnish Behl), Malik's protege who runs the current number one channel, Headlines 24.
Purab joins India 24/7 and soon goes on to do good stories. Supporting him is special shows editor Anand Prakash Trivedi (Rajpal Yadav), and Chief Operating Officer Nalini Kashyap, (Suchitra Krishnamurthy).
Jay (Sudeep), Malik's son is envious of the young Purab. He's also increasingly intolerant of his dad's journalistic ethics, and convinces him to be practical and make a few changes in the programming.
The twist comes when Jay gets desperate to save the sinking channel. His brother-in-law Navin Shankalya (Rajat Kapoor) is a top industrialist who wants to climb up further to beat his elder brother. And for that, he entices Jay to 'create' a news story 'exposing' Prime Minister Huda's hand in the recent blasts, so that he's ousted. All this is the planning of Jan Seva party president Mohan Pandey (Paresh Rawal) who wants to be the next PM. Jay, of course, succumbs to the temptation and persuades dad that the story is true.
Rann is serious from the beginning, so the first half is a bit of a drag, when the plot is being established. But post interval, the film is truly gripping. The story in the second half is about creating news, blackmailing, murder, media-politician nexus, and other pressures allegedly faced bythe media. It is about how Purab goes about exposing Jay Malik, Mohan Pandey and his aides. And it's about a father's choice.
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