Dhamaka: A taut and intense tale
Hyderabad: Success is today about huge compromises and strategies. Most often, the scriptures are quoted by the devils. Intrigue fills the road of professional existence and we are all engaged in a never-ending nuanced format of deceit and entrepreneurial conspiracy against the laypeople.
All this and more are captured with necessary drama and thrill by Ram Madhvani in the Netflix film titled ‘Dhamaka’ starring Kartik Aaryan. The no noise release of the film is indeed a bad business call. The film certainly deserves more eye balls and hearings.
Arjun (Kartik Aaryan) is in the midst of a career crisis. His marriage with Sowmya (Mrunal Thakur), his colleague, is also under challenge. He has a tough scheming boss who, like any TV channel head, is concerned with TRP (the new cuss word!).
Minutes before he is to go live on a show, he gets a call from Anand Mhata who informs him that he has planted bombs on Bandra Worli Sea Link. His demand to stop further blasts is a simple apology from Minister Jaydev Patil for an alleged wrong done to his father and other workers at the site.
As an anchor whose position in the channel is itself shaky and completely at the whim of his colleague Ankita (Amruta Subhash) he first looks at it as a piece of exclusive news for his channel. By the time he realises its intensity and implications, it is too late and he’s forced to make hard choices. Taut and told with the right sense of intensity, the film is gripping enough for the OTT platform. It is a moot question if it would be enough for the big screen.
Called a terrorist by the bureaucracy, and in the face of a refusal to negotiate with him given his simple demand: a one-word apology, he gets desperate. People’s lives are jeopardised in the ego battle with Minster Patil and his deputy Subhash Mathur (Vishwajeet Pradhan) on the one hand and the faceless Raghubeer on the other.
The media house finds this a great opportunity, instead of seeing it as a human tragedy. Constantly called upon to press the button towards a successful career, our protagonist suffers a moral call and takes a decisive call that is suicidal on multiple fronts.
The mysterious caller sticks to his simple demand: an apology from the Minister. With his foot on the pedal, he refuses to take it off and finds no reason to. Arjun is forced to take a hard call. Watch the rest. Ram Madhvani does enough to invest your two hours.
When an actor walks out of his comfort zone and, more importantly, delivers at a crucial stage of his career, he deserves all the appreciation. Kartik Aaryan, who hitherto revelled in light-hearted roles, comes up with a very sustained and credible interpretation of a news anchor, aware of the systemic weaknesses and yet conscious enough to be not pushed beyond a point.
Box-item
Title: Dhamaka
Cast: Kartik Aaryan, Mrunal Thakur, Amruta Subhash, Vishwajeet Pradhan, Soham Majumdar
Director: Ram Madhvani
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