'Dial 100' Movie Review: Dial down dude

Manoj Bajpayee

Dial 100
On: ZEE5
Dir: Rensil D'Silva
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Neena Gupta, Sakshi Tanwar
Rating: ''

Whatever issues you may have with movies that subtly promote vigilante justice (and sure enough I have many), when was the last time you saw a cat and mouse chase in Bollywood, between a cop in the control room, and an offender, who's out and about, issuing instructions over the phone, while holding a helpless police officer to ransom?

Think A Wednesday! (2008). Which starred Anupam Kher as the cop, and Naseeruddin Shah as the rogue at the other end, seeking a strange sort of justice in a vigilante thriller. There's no question of comparing Kher and Shah to other actors, let alone each other.

But it must be said still that both the lead actors in this film, Manoj Bajpayee, 52, and Neena Gupta, 62 - particularly given an almost miraculous second wave in their careers they're currently riding - would be irreplaceable/unbeatable for a film like this, altogether centred on two performers alone.

Particularly Bajpayee. He plays the cop on night-duty at a rather snazzy looking Mumbai police control room. He's of course played a cop (of a different kind) almost back-to-back on screen lately. Whether in the two seasons of the series The Family Man, or as a deeply internalised, brooding old, retired Bhosle, in the art-house film by the same name.

And yet as the senior police inspector Nikhil Sood, he stands out delivering anything but a repetition of himself. Opposite him is Gupta as a harried woman.

She has the cop in her hand-glove - issuing ultimatums and instructions to him over the police helpline (100). The last time we saw her rude and cut-throat on screen was probably in the reality TV show Kamzor Kadi Kaun, back in the day. She appears way more real here.

So far as this thriller is concerned, time is limited. It's ticking. There are lives at stake. It's for the lead actors alone that you give the film the long rope it deserves. For, there is enough talent in the room, actor Sakshi Tanwar included, that you don't ever take your eyes off the screen. Their job's done.

Here's an issue with two-character movies with a one-dimensional goal though. One, of course, that I can't list out to you any of the details at great length, or at all in fact - what lies beneath all that's going on. The plot has an in-built spoiler, and therefore a bull-shit detector that can't be brought out.

And yet everything really boils down to what's at stake here, isn't it? What if, sometimes, sheer stupidity is? Yes, I can say that for sure. Or maybe simply suggest - imagine a cold-blooded murder right inside a cop station, would nobody care?

Worse still, think of all the reasons/options the woman could be after the police officer. You dig deeper and deeper (‘khoda pahad'), and find a pointless mouse, that really can't quite explain the ensuing chase!

How do you reconcile yourself to all of this then? Perhaps by considering this as a half decent lockdown film (assuming that's when they shot it) - set between two primary locations, easy to execute, and just about engaging enough to knock back in under two hours flat. There are some worthy moments alright.

Also read: Neena Gupta: Don't like negative roles as one gets bracketed

Or you could dwell on the film's chief inspiration. Which, as it turns out, is a hit and run case, involving a top industrialist's kid, who got away. Nothing of this incident was really reported in the news media - half of which is too scared, and the other half bought over. If it sounds familiar, you laud the filmmakers for being ‘oh so brave' after all. I did.

Barring all of the above, let's just say, you can't fault the set-up - which is a genre of its own. The reason you stick around though is - what's this convoluted revenge drama about; or well, what happens next, or eventually? You play that in your head once it's all over, and wonder if it makes much sense. That's the payoff. Sorry it's a serious piss-off!

Also read: 'Dial 100' director Rensil D'Silva: Visiting control room was an eye-opener