MusicChat It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Deanna There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Rexanne It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

haroonoptimist Watched it 18 times. What a great movie. Loved by my family. Politics, betrayal, enmity at its best. Great dialogue-writing. Superb acting. Thanks RGV

Shyamsunder This is a 2010 release from Ram Gopal Varma (RGV). After being premiered at the Toronto film festival it gat a normal release in India in January. Commercially it did not make waves and got a rather quiet burial having grossed only Rs 12 Crores. A deeper look at the plot of the film and its treatment will perhaps throw some light into the reasons thereof. Rann deals with the often talked about theme of the politician media nexus. We have Ashok Malik, the upright owner of the struggling news channel India 24X7 who holds all the tenets of an ethical media close to his heart. His US educated son Jai returns and in true dynastic tradition moves in to inherit the doting father's business. His bête noire is the owner of the rival channel run by Amrish Kakkar, himself an ex-employee of India 24X7. In his ambition to turn around his channel and win the race to be number one, Jai sells his soul to the devil - Mohan Pandey the ruthless politician who will stop at nothing to achieve his ambition of becoming the Prime Minister. In this mission Jai is egged on by his businessman brother in law Naveen. The twists and turns show the dirty tricks politicians indulge in, fake news and even created news being reported by the media, emotional manipulation of a doting father by his ambitious son, and the final denouement through an expose by a greenhorn reporter, Purab. The casting is superb - we need not say anything about the acting prowess of the established stars Amitabh Bachhan (Ashok Malik), Paresh Rawal (Mohan Pandey), and Rajpal Yadav (who does a cameo as a TV anchor with a flair for dramatics). They live their roles with effortless ease. The ladies in the film are there purely for decorative purposes - including an accomplished actress like Gul Panag who looks pretty, dimples and all. The surprise packages are Mohnish Behl who is very convincing as the ruthless rival media baron and Sudeep who effectively portrays the mental trauma of the ambitious but morally ambivalent Jai. It unfortunate that a talented actor like Mohnish has had so few opportunities to exhibit his talent. Riteish Deshmukh as the young idealist who sees Ashok Malik as a role model brings the right balance of eagerness and disillusionment to his role of Purab. However, the director does go overboard by caricaturing him as a sweater wearing and motorbike riding common man's reporter; his stylish flat gives the lie to his 'modest' pretentions! Also the scenes of his tailing Jai in full view of his rear view mirror are rather amateurish. Having said that, one should take nothing away from the tight editing which keeps you interested right through the 137 minutes of the movie. Rann is right down the alley of RGVs iconoclastic movies questioning and even perhaps subtly justifying today's politician's morals - which would perhaps put even alley cats to shame. While talk of paid media, fake news and media politician nexus is passé in today's context, when we consider that this movie was released in early 2010, it is eerily prescient. It is so easy to relate to the events of today and even believe that the riots, scams and exposes, and the empty rhetoric of voluble politicians which we hear of on a daily basis are the paid handiwork of one party of the other - there are no saints in the business of politics - ably aided and abetted by a self-seeking and greedy media. No surprises here that this movie would not have found too many friends among the political class or the media houses who very often 'create' the success or failure of movies. I would go with three and a half stars out of five for this wakeup call from RGV.

Avinash Patalay RGVs teaming with BigB always had led to highly anticipated movies and with Rann the same goes. So Post 26/11 when RGV got embroiled along with Ritesh, Rann was definite movie to watch out his vengeance. The product works, only at a few places - sad!Media is the crux of the movie, and the problem is a shallow depiction of it. Its evident that the writer did not do his homework properly but concentrated on fabricating a story around the industry. ¤ Big B:: In my opinion, the character is a straight lift from Mahabharata - Dhritarashtra, for the love of his son. The over-the-top idealistic portrayal was not warranted. It wasn't a full BigB outing and also it wasn't like his role was indispensable. The emotional charged lines in the grand finale attempt to cover up for the short-comings.¤ Ritesh:: The publicity machine portrayed his character to be derived from Howard Roark and honestly thats conning. Or maybe the character did not get screen time to crystallise into The Fountainhead. ¤ Sudeep:: A Duryodhana in disguise who know how to manipulate his Paa. His accent needed to be improvised and mimes Raghuvaran to the T. Also touching the face frequently does not qualify for acting. ¤ Paresh Rawal:: Its good to see Paresh joining hands back with RGV after a long gap. His character does have meat in it and I wouldn't be surprised if it was based on a couple of real-life conniving politicians. ¤ Mohnish Behl:: Now he is the one who steals the thunder practically right under everybody's noses. Fantastic performance and truly goes to show what he is capable of if truly tapped his potential. ¤ Rajat Kapoor:: Well, it is the usual "suave" character he portrays practically in every other movie.¤ Rajpal Yadav:: A realistic character and as usual he goes a bit over- the-top the moment camera starts whirring. But hey, he says one memorable line which pretty much sums up the industry "hum humari filmon ko NEWS kehte hain!".Finally coming to the ladies, if I dare say the truth - you were all conned by RGV. Background score is very loud, a la 1980's B-grade masala flick. Songs are pathetic, the composition or the lyrics - cannot decide which is the worst. What happened to the glorious days when RGV teamed up with R D Burman, Rahman, Vishal Bharadwaj, Gulzar etc. Rann goes to show the level "The Factory" is stooping to.

DICK STEEL Ram Gopal Sharma's Rann examines the corruption of the media and how it can be manipulated or seduced by either party into compromising or even forgoing their ethical obligations, in the name of favours, and money. And in some respect, the issues presented here aren't far fetched, and from incidents time and again, we see how the media can be used to gain an unfair upper hand, and the power that it wields to bring down positions of power when investigative journalism gets into gear. And of course, having the evergreen Amitabh Bachchan star in a leading role as Vijay Harshvardhan Malik, an ethical, no- nonsense media mogul who runs his own news channel called India 24/7, is one of the major draws of Rann.As the moral compass of the country, Vijay's editorial news programme sets the agenda, but unfortunately in the face of stiff channel competition and falling ratings, his son Jai (Sudeep) wants to take the channel into a new level through the injection of external funds. Cautious that the source of such funds would mean an erosion of ethics that his channel is renowned for, Vijay decides to allow Jai to proceed with his plans, but little does anyone know that under their noses, India 24/7's COO Nanlini (Suchitra Krishnamoorthi) is a mole in their corporation, feeding chief rivals H24, run by Amrish Kakkar (Mohnish Bahl) all the information on India 24/7's strategy, thereby letting the competition always stay a step ahead.The story by Rohit G. Banawlikar is fantastically multi-layered, with ample development given to the this industrial espionage, and how it draws Jai to the dark side of shady deal-making, which ultimately culminates in the assistance of his industrialist brother-in-law Naveen (Rajat Kapoor), and his friend, the dubious politician Mohan Pandey (Paresh Rawal), with the ambition of taking over the prime ministership of the country, through a carefully crafted scheme which draws upon threats, murder, terrorism as well as a fake undercover expose recording, delivered unknowingly and none other than Vijay himself.It is also the story of a greenhorn investigative journalist Purab (Ritesh Deshmukh), who idolizes Vijay and his pursuit of journalism excellence, and whose honor and ethics Purab wants to emulate, so much so that he decides to join India 24/7. A part of the story has Purab caught in the entire web of deceit, and the moral dilemma he faces with acknowledging the probable stain in his boss's reputation and career, an act of betrayal, the realization that his inexperience had caused a lot more damage than it should, before deciding to gamble it all in doing the right thing. There are ups and downs as we follow Purab in his journey, making him one of the more well developed characters in the film that we both root for, and be exasperated with.It's not all doom and gloom though, with well timed comic relief introduced (without going overboard) through Anand Prakash Trivedi (Rajpal Yadav), a presenter who just tries too hard, with an interview scene being one of the funniest delivered in the film. But the more memorable scene here has to be the stinging monologue that Amitabh Bachchan delivers with gravitas, a rebuke on the role of the media, and how it is so easy for those in powerful positions to collude for self interests and money, that everything, including the progress of a nation, can be sacrificed. There's no big bang finale action, but a talkie finale which hammers it in with heartfelt emotion, one that I wish our own powers that be could have a chance to listen in, and perhaps remind themselves of their back to basics responsibilities.The film quietly builds itself into a fire-cracker finale, having to witness how deep the rabbit hole goes, and just when you thought it had hit rock bottom, more events unfold to dig us further into the consequences of the conspiracy which not only impacts the individuals on a personal level, but you shudder at the thought of how the impact would be on a national scale. When it it bottoms out into an inevitable conclusion, on one hand you'd expect difficult sacrifices and decisions to be made as a resolution to the problem posed, while on the other feel sorry for those innocent caught up in the crossfire, and shrewd as RGV is, there's room for a sequel to be made as well.Should there be any gripe, those who cannot stand shaky camera movement will find it disturbing to view the film through a camera lens not mounted on a tripod, which in a way provided a sense of a documentary feel to the entire proceedings with its fair share of twists and turns. Female characters too are tokens in the film, mostly relegated to wives and girlfriends who repeatedly looked quite sorry at being bewildered at their man's problems. There was a little bit of a brushing of a couple's differences in religious backgrounds (something sensitive with the older female generation perhaps?) that despite it being mentioned and played out briefly, didn't serve up any depth in the issue, probably side- skirted and being an abandoned sub plot.If anyone would think that Bollywood makes Masala type films only, then obviously their horizons need to be broadened. Rann is an excellent political thriller that's kept tight and pacey from the get go, coupled with a charismatic cast whose delivery will keep you at the edge of your seat as the narrative unfolds. Definitely recommended stuff, and it goes into my books as an early contender for the top films of this year.