At times an engrossing but ultimately frustrating saga

*ing : Amitabh Bachchan, Sudeep, Paresh Rawal, Rajat Kapoor, Riteish
Deshmukh
Director : Ram Gopal Verma

Vijay Harshvardhan Malik(Bachchan) is an old-fashioned news reporter whose calls for the "truth always" incite feelings of rebellion from his son Jai Malik(Sudeep) who feels envious about other channels making giant strides with their sensationalist reporting and biased tactics especially the one owned by Amrish Khakkar(Bahl). He decides to do something about this and finds a willing ally in his own brother-in-law(Rajat Kapoor) who is in nexus with a dirty politician called Pandey(Rawal). Together they plan to manipulate the news and trick their righteous father(in-law) in broadcasting the programme.

RGV peeks into the Madhur Bhandarkar stable and races his own horses in a take on the Indian media today. But unlike Bhandarkar whose protagonist or victim or horse for that matter is just sometimes a second fiddle to the enamours and guiles of industry itself, Verma puts the characters themselves in the spotlight narrating a tale about them while their profession is just a part of what they do. In this he pretty much consciously repeats his Godfather themes as Vijay(Bachchan) reprises his Sarkar role as the patriarch of the house whose son looks at the family business from a lucrative point of view rather than an ethical one. Adding to this mix is Purab Shastri(Deshmukh) who like the obedient son plays a clean reporter, who considers Malik Sr. as his idol and is willing to find the truth at any cost. This at once makes Rann for an engrossing watch.

But as soon as Jai coaxes father, the graph of the movie goes steadily downwards and this slide is only arrested by Bachchan's stellar speech at the end. But that too lingers on for a tad too long and we are beyond caring by then. There are many loop-holes in the plot that are not researched or addressed, the biggest one being why such a stalwart of the industry, a veteran would agree to broadcast a controversy without any research or proof.

Performance wise, Bachchan seems inexplicably subdued but comes into his own during the final speech. Sudeep constantly overacts his incessant nervousness and his sniffing is irritating, suited more to a drug addict which he is not. Riteish is alright. Mohnish Bahl is very good. Rawal is menacing enough and Rajat Kapoor is solid. I wonder what a "I will do different meaty roles" actress like Gul Panag is doing in this movie as Deshmukh's wife.

Subtlety has never been RGV's forte as the music in every boiling point situation is raised to a thumping crescendo with his typical sanskrit slogan background reserved for the final scenes. Overall Rann is better than his recent work but still frustrating to watch after the slip-ups.

Rating : 2.5/5