Don't give up on RGV. Review on Rann Movie

Where has Ram Gopal Verma of yore gone? The director who gave us gems like Rangeela, Raat, Satya, Company and Kaun is miserably out of form lately. And looks like hasn’t regained the form yet. The man, who made quality cinema out of virtually no plotlines in films like Daud and Kaun, fails to deliver with a theme with lot of potential. Rann’s premise is promising no doubt, but content and execution is not.

Initial credits do set good expectations. You brace yourself for some serious stuff… for comeback of RG Verma. But you are let down by the end. Let down by the film and more by the filmmaker. Rann, that promises to unmask those who claim to unmask others, a film that promised to challenge (and maybe change) the route the media in our country has taken to increase TRPs, turns out to be a half-baked, ill-researched and shallow very shallow effort.

Why RGV has to make all his films so dark and gloomy? Agreed it adds depth to narrative, but maybe not every time. Why the background score has to be so loud? Was it meant to excite or scare? Why most of the film is shot from strange angles, through the gate rails, rear view mirrors of cars, key holes, windowpanes, curtains, sofa corners… everything but a straight and full camera frame. It makes already a dark film almost suffocating. It gives a feeling of watching a horror film. RGV tries to add impact and grip by this camera gimmicks rather than taut storytelling. While he has tight control on his cameraman, the story clearly spill through with lots of loose ends.

The conspiracy, that we are believed to have toppled the government in New Delhi, is too simple. Veterans of media and politics and the general public of country today are smart enough not to fall this easily. RGV tries to show that it’s a big conspiracy by filming it from spooky angles in a dark room, an unknown old lady watching TV in next room, a political henchman kind of person sitting wearing khaadi and aviators and speaking nothing in the whole film… hey..! Is this actually a horror film? Vijay Malik (Amitabh Bachchan) who’s supposed to be the last man standing in India’s media, telecasts a sting operation tape featuring 2 men, with potential to overturn the government (run by a man of his liking), without even knowing the source, forget about checking the authenticity. One of the men in the sting operation tape is found dead soon after and still nobody smells a rat. Except for of course our other “last man standing” in making, Purab (Ritesh Deshmukh). Purab is the only one who seems to be having photographs of Vijay Malik’s birthday party, where the other man in the tape was present.

Then the newly elected Prime Minister, Mohan Pandey (Paresh Rawal) decides to take oath on the spot of a bomb blast. I am not sure if that is allowed by constitution. And he chooses Vijay Malik and his channel to present his swearing in ceremony to the nation. Isn’t the national broadcaster (Doordarshan) supposed to do that? Meanwhile Vijay Malik decides to telecast another sting operation tape (again) without checking its authenticity (again). Mohan Pandey gives an election rally kind of speech before being sworn in. Has that ever happened and I am again not sure if that is allowed by the constitution. Then, while the newly elected Prime Minister is being sworn in by the President of India, every body present gets a phone call simultaneously and every single soul moves out of the ceremony leaving the President and Prime Minister wondering what actually happened. Hey…! Is that how you treat the President of India and a newly elected democratic leader of country?

The characters of story are too cardboard and bookish. Everyone is either pure black or pure white. Only Sudeep’s character shows some shades of grey and hence reality. He portrays a heir of media house, torn between commercial success and his father’s ethics, with conviction. But why he has to behave like a drug addict? Every other character is monotonous. Ritesh Deshmukh, who wears the same attire on all occasions, be it party or obituary, does a fair job. Moinish Behl was looking fine until the sequence when he spells out every single details of countries biggest conspiracy to a journalist of competitor TV channel. He has never over acted more. Paresh Rawal, who has done some memorable negative roles in the past, is just passable. We have seen Rajat Kapoor doing far better justice to his talent. And Gul Panag, was that you? After his histrionics in PAA, this looked a sub-standard written role for Amitabh Bachchan. Though he still is the brightest spot in this gloomy venture. Even a below par writing can not keep Amitabh Bachchan down.

Ram Gopal Verma is going through the similar phase as Indian Cricketer Rahul Dravid was going through sometimes back. Nothing was going his way. Nobody had doubt on his talent and class, but still he was failing. Even on good batting tracks, against not so formidable bowling attack… he was failing. There were times when even a man of his temperament seemed to get bogged down, there were times when he tried to stroke himself out of the bad patch with some flashy and adventurous shots. But he failed. Then he did what he does best. Took his time on the pitch and constructed the wall again. Brick by brick.

RGV needs to do the same I guess. Maybe take a break. Try being assistant and mentor to some of the young directors. He has given us some great young directors from his Factory after all.And who knows maybe he should try to cast Urmila again for his next film. Do whatever but give us the RGV of past back.We miss him.