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The Broken News
Director: Vinay Waikul
Cast: Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Taaruk Raina
Streaming Platform: ZEE5
Newsroom and courtroom dramas have always made for riveting content on the big or small screen. ZEE5’s latest offering The Broken News straddles between two newsrooms and perpetually between the right and wrong. Starring Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shriya Pilgaonkar and Taaruk Raina in the lead ensemble cast, the web series spans across eight episodes. This review is based on the first four episodes of the show.
Vinay Waikul’s drama is set between two extremely opposing news channels – Awaz Bharti and Josh 24*7. As their name suggests, the first one simply delivers the news minus the gimmicks. While the latter, believes in serving not just the news, but an entire course that is made up of various spicy elements or in news slang ‘mirch masala’.
While the calm and composed journalist Amina Qureshi (played by Sonali Bendre) heads Awaz Bharti, a starkly contrasting personality of Jaideep Ahlawat as Dipankar Sanyal heads Josh 24*7. Right from the minute you hit play, you are given a low-down of their opposing approach towards reporting news.
The director and writers opt for a predictable route to reveal this as the editors make decisions in their daily edit meet. We are shown how two different news channels, their style and how two different editors process and select news pieces which frankly gets redundant after the third episode. By then, you already know that Jaideep is the more brash journalist/businessmen of the two.
The fight of ethical journalism also forms a major chunk of the narrative as the journalists wrestle between crossing the line and chasing the facts. Shriya Pilgaonkar, who was recently seen in Guiilty Minds and played a hard-hitting lawyer, channels similar energy to play Radha Bhargava in The Broken News. While she perfectly fits the part and does a commendable job, it might be difficult to easily forget her class act in Guilty Minds.
Jaideep Ahlawat, as usual, is impressive and will floor you with his ruthless editor act. However, the surprise package is Sonali Bendre who is the fierce news editor and is cast perfectly. The Broken News’ cast works just fine. However, writing falls short to give the characters much depth and explore any possible layers that would have made the story even more riveting, personal or even heartbreaking.
Halfway through The Broken News, the show fails to tap into any sort of emotions that shocking stories of rape, murder or sexual assault might evoke. It keeps in focus the power dynamics, lead characters’ backstory and newsroom drama that isn’t just enough to keep you hooked. While it does manage to keep you invested in Radha’s quest to always do right, it doesn’t necessarily generate the same reactions in other characters.
The Broken News treads the line of right and wrong far too much and dishes out too little.
ALSO READ: Guilty Minds Review: Shriya Pilgaonkar, Varun Mitra’s authentic legal drama lets you sink your teeth into it
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