‘Reporting Live’: Not much to read between the lines

Cast: Parineeti Chopra, Deven Bhojani, Amol Palekar, Adil Hussain, Shekhar Suman

So, its corporate owner Shyam’s (Shekhar Suman) not-so-scrupulous ways hardly come as a surprise. Sure enough, he lets one or two investigative reports by the conscientious duo sneak in. But once the same team begins to wade into murky waters and gets to the big fish, you know he will turn turtle. Very little is exciting in the film that sure has its heart in the right place and picks up from events around us.

A bridge collapse in a village in Maharashtra, despite the gravity and enormity of the tragedy, is dealt with rather perfunctorily. Instead, we are led to the root cause: rampant sand mining close to its foundation. Like the heroine, you might be tempted to say, “Ret hi to hai”. For her and ignoramuses like us, facts are stated by a village elder played by Amol Palekar. With his help and active assistance, Sandhya and Vinod uncover the dark secrets behind an ‘industry’ worth tens of thousands of crores.

Director Dhruv Tripathi and his co-writer Mihir Jadhav seem to understand the illegal business of mining rather well and throw in some intelligent cues too. The bird-watching scene, for instance, is not random but has a deep connect with the storyline. The significant link is not merely Nassar’s business tycoon character of R Velraj, but something more.

If you pay attention, the nod to cinematographer R Velraj by way of Nassar’s reel name too is much appreciated. The mining scenes have more than a touch of realism and DoP Velraj does a fair job of capturing the whirlwind atmospherics of mining. But a few smart pointers alone don’t make things compelling and the movie never becomes more than a sum of its assembled parts.

Though ‘Reporting Live’ boasts of some very fine actors, with undercooked parts, they can’t possibly bring much to the table. Apart from veteran actor Amol Palekar, whose character arc follows the expected fated path, there is the gifted Adil Hussain, principled editor of the channel who too is hemmed in, not just by his boss but also the writing.

One must, however, laud the makers for casting Deven Bhojani. The comic actor not only gets a serious part but is almost second lead. Parineeti is just about adequate. We are also spared the unnecessary romantic angle of the heroine, who dresses almost staidly in kurtas and half jackets. But is a dash of realism and a realistic subject enough to keep us hooked? Except for the sand mining aspect, the film does not offer anything new, or anything to keep us on the edge as well.

A dialogue here and there, a “news story every minute, the idea of fast- food stories”, attempts to enhance our understanding of modern-day journalism. But series like ‘The Broken News’ have done it with far more sting and bite. In comparison, or even as a standalone film, ‘Reporting Live’ doesn’t cut much teeth. Vinod keeps teasing Sandhya, “You are a drama queen.” Wish she truly was, a bit of chutzpah and spice never hurt. Only if the film had some intriguing twists and turns, the overall impact would not have been this underwhelming.

As things stand, ‘Reporting Live’ appears more like a dull and predictable news report streaming live. Good intentions alright, but tepid treatment saps whatever advantages the concept might have had on paper. ‘Truth requires depth’ and a film uncovering truth needs one to dig deep into the many layers of filmmaking. Here, it remains on the surface. A textbook case of investigative journalism with not much to read between the lines.