Dhamaka
Director: Ram Madhvani
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Mrunal Thakur, Amrita Subhash
It has become fashionable for Indian cinema to remake foreign films, mostly South Korean, sometimes French. Of course, it’s perfectly legal, but in a country like India With its rich and varied stories, it can be regrettable that we don’t come across its mythology, culture and imagination more often.
Whatever it is, Ram Madhvani’s thriller, Dhamaka, on Netflix, is a remake of the South Korean drama, The Terror Live – a bloody, brutal look at television news and how one channel plays against another, all for high ratings. I really don’t know if Terror Live is actually based on events happening in that country. But in India, the news exaggerated by some TV channels – as shown in Madhvani’s work – may not be completely untrue. It is widely believed that the electronic medium in India is given to the sensationalist. Truth is framed to be more compelling, destroying livelihoods, and “murdering” the characters.
Yes, they are few above all and are quite controlled and subdued in their presentation. There is no such TRTV in the film. Despite its claim to present “the truth, nothing but the truth”, the channel leans towards lies, as we watch the blast frame by frame towards a terrifying climax.
Arjun Pathak (Karthik Aryan) is a depressed TV anchor who is all set to divorce his wife Saumya Mehra Pathak (Mrunal Thakur). Worse yet, he has been demoted from a presenter to a radio jockey, an assignment he hates.
His life takes a turn when he receives a call from an unknown man, who says that he is all set to blow up the Mumbai Sea Link while facing the television office, if the minister concerned apologizes for the deaths of three workers. Doesn’t ask for those who helped build the bridge. And the caller wants the minister to step into the television station and publicly apologize.
When Arjun scolds the caller saying that he is playing a game, a portion of the sea link gets blown away. What follows is chaos and panic, with the channel trying to raise its ratings, Arjun hoping to get back his previous assignment with this breaking news and his boss, Ankita (Amrita Subhash), going against morality and humanism. is daring. It’s big time at the TV office, where confusion ensues with the many men, women and children stranded on the bridge, and Soumya, who also went on the spot to report for TRTV!
In a thriller like this, no great performances are expected, but Mrunal is expressive and interesting in portraying the joys of marriage and, later, the crisis as she stands on crumbling sea links.
The bang is the pace, and there’s never a dull moment as it may seem. But it goes overboard with some scenes. The talks between Arjun and Ankita hardly seem plausible. Do employees treat their boss the same way Arjun treats his boss? I think writers and directors don’t care as long as they attract the attention of the audience or the audience.
(Gautman Bhaskaran is a writer, commentator and film critic, covering major film festivals such as Cannes and Venice for close to three decades)
read all breaking news, breaking news And coronavirus news Here. follow us on Facebook, Twitter And Wire,
,