“Rann” away from this!

The scene is oath taking ceremony of the Prime Minister of India.

The would-be Prime Minister arrives in an ambassador car with just 2-3 vehicles in a convoy. The oath taking is in an open ground. Rashtrapati Bhavan is nowhere to be seen. There is limited audience, one of whom is a big businessman. And the would-be Prime Minister is giving a bhashan before oath taking. And the people sitting on the stage are listening with rapt attention. One of them is shown in a Navy uniform, so we can safely assume that he is the Chief of Navy. And then the oath begins. Just when his name is read out, cell phones of all the audience start buzzing. Everyone gets up and leaves the place, for the SMS had incriminating evidence that he played a dangerous game to unseat the previous PM. And the oath taking ceremony is put on hold because people are leaving in a huff. And finally the would-be PM is shown leaving the place pushing around the crowd.

Now, if you think this scene is from a comedy movie, then sorry. This is just a sample of one scene in Rann, to exemplify the woefully shoddy research (or the lack of it) that went into the making of this movie. Now, I would not have a problem with the above scene if it came from an unknown stable. The above scene might have sounded hilarious too, if it were a Priyadardhan movie. But a movie that claimed to be a serious one, and that advertised itself as a dig at the media culture turns out to be as shoddy as this, it surely disappoints.

There is not one editorial meeting that is shown in the movie. All shows seem to air in the day time itself! The dialogues are superficial at best, peripheral at worst. Each scene seemed to be taken in undue haste and unexplained hurry. For crying out loud, they couldn't design one decent set for the TV shows!

The Chief Operating Officer of one major news channel leaks inside information to the rival channel. And they meet openly in a bar to exchange information and money. Until the COO tells Amitabh that the other channel already started their program, he does not know about it! I mean, how difficult it is for him not to know about that?

All decisions are taken by father and son. And then comes the son-in-law who is close to the leader of opposition, who in turn plots the downfall on the present PM with releasing just one CD. No one questions its authencity. It is aired, PM resigns, elections are called, and results are declared – all in maybe 2 minutes! And we happen to know that elections were held, because Amitabh says so in one line on his show!

If the movie was hyped up for its camera angles, background music or technical stuff (not that I liked any of them), then I wouldn't be complaining of the shoddy research and the rush that went into making of the scenes. Ram Gopal Varma took large pains to emphasize on the role of media etc through the bashan from Amitabh. In real life, he forgets that films are also media, and he needs to be responsible while presenting such stories. He cannot get away with wrongly showing the political system of the country and then claim it to be a matter of his opinion.

I know he doesn't care for criticism, but this time he just got his facts plain wrong. Avoid this movie, and you will lose nothing. Watch it, and chances are you will want to "Rann" away from it as soon as possible.