CAST : Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat,  Shriya Pilgaonkar, Indraneil Sengupta, Taaruk Raina, Aakash Khurana, and Kiran Kumar

DIRECTED BY : VINAY WAIKUL

BLUF: Amina Qureshi is the editor in chief of a news channel called Awaaz Bharati, a news channel that practices ethical journalism. She is in competition with Dipankar Sanyal (Jaideep Ahlawat) of Josh 24/7, a news channel known for its sensational journalism. The episodes of this show are about the choices they make, the compulsions that they face and the problems that they face, you know, and so what is happening in their professional lives and a part of it in their personal lives also, and how are they navigating all of it. This series is an adaptation of BBC One’s Press which released here in the US way back in 2019 , directed by Tom Vaughn, the series was quite popular with very talented actors Charlotte Riley, Ben Chaplin, Priyanga Burford.

THE MEAT AND THE POTATOES

In the war of making the headlines first, sometimes the ethical and the non-ethical become analogous in intent.

Awaz Bharti prides itself on its ethics and works hard to keep ethics at the forefront of its operation despite attempts to undermine the power of unbiased reporting by people in power with money. Amina Qureshi rides the roller coaster of having to do what she thinks is right and weight that with the long-term survival of the News Channel where falling revenues and ratings are knocking on her resolve.

Dipankar Sanyal is ruthlessly vicious about the subjects of his words. He cares a damn about what the aftermath of his words are as long as he can carry his word over the air to a bigger audience – giving him the power and the position to maintain that power.

He plays it well enough not to get cornered into agreeing to do things he does not want to do. He is not afraid to slash and burn. He runs Josh 24/7 with a barbarous, pachydermatous egomaniacal upper hand that no one else matters. His larger-than-life persona permeates the ethic of that organization.

In the middle of it all is Radha Bhargav who is an ambitious, go-getter, unfettered by fear, who believes in the brand of Awaz Bharti. She is disappointed when Amina has to follow a few protocols or cater to court gags that Dipankar circumvents. She wants to be Dipankar but with the ethics of Amina. But she cannot be both. In this world of who gets the news first, who makes the hashtag viral and who an move the court of public opinion, are the lives of all these people who bring the news to millions of people of that country who as Dipankar puts it “ don’t read the court records or the realities of any case  but believe in our word and how we twist it”

Broken News is the story of the Industry where news has become drama and is played out for rating and power rather than for benefit of those consuming it.

IN THE KNOW

We absolutely loved the tempo, the pace and the feel of the screenplay. The casting of Sonali Bendre as Amina is fabulous. This lady has never looked better, and she brings a lot of gravitas to the character. Shriya Pilgaonkar drives Radha like a pro but the one character that hits you in your face the most is Jaideep Ahlawat’s complicated portrayal of Dipankar Sanyal. Some of the subtle undertone of energy between the character of Radha and Dipankar in their scenes together are magic. You know these two actors are perhaps the best in class that there are in just those few scenes.

What we sorely missed were any interactions between Sonali’s Amina and Jaideep, would love to explore that chemistry.

The last two episodes reveal are the surprise package.

Given the quantum of scandal we have already been exposed to with the Uber intrusion case, maybe a government acting like our NSA normally does behind closed doors on the pretext of national security is not such a biggie but the surprise of the execution was well pulled off. We cannot wait for Season 2. Print did have a Season 2 so we are totally expecting one here.

Jaideep Ahlawat is indeed a national treasure.

Vinay Waikul is almost restrained in his direction of this show. You know he has let the actors lead because you can feel that in the way the series has such an organic News Channel feel.

The rendition of Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s  Bol Ki Lab Azad Hain Tere as the series theme was quite poignantly positioned by Music composer Aditya Pushkaran. In supporting roles, a special mention for Taaruk Raina who made his presence be felt in really combative scenes with Jaideep Ahlawat.

On the whole, extremely enjoyable watch from zee5. We recommend this binge.