MELBOURNE, 10 June 2022: India’s two private channels are pitted against each other, in competition, for breaking news and TRPs. The bitter rivalry is laced with one going to any level for news, and the other ethical and professional in news gathering. A reflection of present-day Indian reality where channels are known as ‘Godi media’ (Deshbhakth or patriotic)or the non-Godi media (Deshdhrohi or anti-national). Welcome to ‘The Broken News’ serial now streaming on the Zee5 Global OTT platform.
Produced by Zee5 Global in collaboration with the BBC Studios India, ‘The Broken News’ is an eight-part drama series is the official adaptation of the popular British series ‘Press’, which first aired on 6 September 2018. It’s in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada and is streaming across 190+ countries.
The duration of all eight episodes is 4 hours and 40 minutes.
The Deshbhakth channel ‘Josh 24×7’ led by Dipankar Sanyal (Jaideep Ahlawat) and the deshdhrohi channel Awaaz Bharti led by Amina Qureshi (Sonali Bendre) battle it out each hour and day with all sorts of media tricks for major stories. The series reminds me of Shyam Benegal’s Kalyug (1981), where conflict between two business families is depicted, a sort of modern ‘Mahabharat’.
This is Sonali Bandre’s comeback production and as Amina Qureshi, looks composed, mature, and up to the mark. Jaideep Ahlawat as the Josh 24×7 boss is able to give a classy performance. His encounters with his daughter are well done. Radha Bhargava (Shirya Pilgaokar) as a reporter gives a sterling performance. The script could have been tighter and some unnecessary scenes clipped.
All the eight episodes are connected well as the newsrooms with different outlooks and political connections battle it out for ‘Breaking News’. The inseparable connection between politicians, corruption, intrigue, and the pressure on journalists to perform for the bosses is reflected well. Reporting journalists have their fixed beats, investigative stories being assigned to this or that reporter look a bit unusual. Journalists have to stick to their beats. In some scenes the background music is loud and the dialogues drown.
Director Vinay Waikul (Ghajini, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, Swadesh, Dangal, The Test Case…) has skillfully created the ambiance of the newsroom and the happenings weaved behind it. The flavor of the digital age on news persons, news-rooms, journalists, and people looks real. The niceties of media intricacies are well directed.
I am not writing the storyline of each episode, as evidently the theme is clear. Towards the end (7th and eighth episodes) the climax inches ahead. India’s divide between the booming TV channels representing unprofessional (news at any cost) and professional (facts-based and with evidence) comes to the fore.
One hears – ‘News is a deadly virus’, ‘Hum insan hain data nahi’, hacking, etc., reflecting the ethos of the 21st-century information and misinformation. The F… word is used quite often and Red wine flows. Maybe, this is life for some journalists. The serial is mainly urban and there is no talk of the other India. Still, it looks contemporary. What goes on behind the news, will be revealing to many.
NAME- The Broken News
LANGUAGES- Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada (English sub-titles)
YEAR- 2022
OTT PLATFORM- Zee5 Global
DURATION- 4 hours 40 minutes (eight episodes)
ACTORS- Sonali Bandre, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shriya Pilgaonkar…
DIRECTOR- Vinay Waikul
