The Whistleblower Review How is this web series not banned yet ss

OTT platform Sony Liv featured a web series titled Scam 1992 based on the book by investigative journalist Sucheta Dalal which was based on the life of infamous stock broker Harshad Mehta. After this, a web series named Maharani, allegedly influenced by the lives of Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi, was presented. Both the web series were very successful and the series of stories influenced by real life has now reached Madhya Pradesh’s mega scam “Vyapam”. There were more than 2000 arrests and more than 100 deaths in this horrifying scam involving more than 13 competitive exams and police recruitment, out of which around 40-50 deaths took place under mysterious circumstances during the investigation. The new web series “The Whistleblower” is not such that it seems shocking, but the way it has been shown to tangle every knot with the best writing, this web series is a great fiction version of the truth.

The Madhya Pradesh government had created an autonomous body called the Professional Examination Board (Vyapam) whose job was to conduct entrance tests for educational institutions and government jobs in the state. Since 1990, there have been complaints of corruption regarding examinations in Vyapam. Be it the medical entrance test or the examination for recruitment in many government jobs like police constable or food inspector, in many ways ineligible students were made to pass the examination in different ways so that they could get admission or job. Instead, huge amount was collected from all of them. There were some special methods of this – sending someone else to take the exam, openly copying in the examination center, leaving the answer sheets blank in the examination so that the correct answers can be filled at the time of checking or providing correct answers to the questions asked. Although this scam was going on for decades, since the first FIR was registered in the year 2000, so many layers came out in this case and its spread was so wide that even the police, Special Investigation Team, High Court and Supreme Court were unable to get to the bottom of it. Only got failure. Many ministers of Madhya Pradesh, their secretaries and personal staff, government officials, employees of Vyapam, staff members of colleges and universities, leaders, contractors, and many more consummate conspirators were involved in this. The name of the son of the governor of Madhya Pradesh was also found to be involved in this and he died mysteriously during the investigation. Many journalists and witnesses died in its investigation, whose secrets could never be revealed and many people disappeared, ran away and it is said that they also went abroad. The Vyapam scam is one of the worst in the country as at least 500 unqualified people became doctors and several thousands got government jobs.

Ajay Monga has written to The Whistleblower. This is the same Ajay Monga who accused Shahrukh Khan’s company of stealing his story in the film Om Shanti Om. Ajay has done serious research on this topic. Shivang Monga is with him in writing the screenplay and Devang Gandhi in writing the dialogues. The writing can go a long way as it depicts the entire scam taking place and at the same time gives importance to each and every character with the help of parallel drama stories. It is definitely not like Harshad Mehta’s “Scam 1992”, but there is nothing wrong in it and the film style has also been kept to a minimum. Some characters definitely come out as arrogant and fake characters, but their hangover does not last long. Where in Scam 1992 the dialogue was crisp and the characters became much larger than life, in The Whistleblower the characters are lifted from ordinary life. Ajay and his team have to be praised that every episode is engaging and even when it becomes cumbersome, the writers soon bring it back on track. The mutual stories of the characters are also related to the original story, so the central track always runs well. Dialogues of Bhopali style will be liked a lot. The entire series has been shot in Bhopal and people familiar with the city will be delighted to see their favorite locales and buildings.

Ritwik Bhowmik is the protagonist of The Whistleblower. Not very experienced but does not let it seem. He has acted with a lot of confidence. His gait is influenced by Hollywood actor Jim Carrey and hence leads to unwanted comedy. Looking at this series, it can be said that in the hands of the right director, Rithvik will soon be in the category of good actors on OTT platforms. They represent the generation which does not take seriously even the biggest accident, mistake, crime or despicable act. Ritvik is perfect in the character of a young man who moves forward by saying “Haan toh ho gaya na kya ho gaya, aage nahin hoga”. Ravi Kishan is with him. Ravi Kishan has once again done wonders in a negative role. In between, he starts being over the top but his dialogues are so simple that he keeps on becoming fake and film villain. Strong role and strong acting. Sachin Khedkar and Sonal Kulkarni have a distinct identity in the world of Marathi plays and films. Although he does less work in Hindi, but in The Whistleblower he has shown what spontaneity is. Sometime back, in Ram Madhvani’s film, there was another Marathi actress Amrita Subhash in the role of the channel’s boss, who has become a very manipulative, consummate and cruel type of boss who can stoop to any extent for her own sake and that of the channel. On the contrary, Sonali has played a very restrained character and her cleverness is reflected in her dialogues. Bhagwan Tiwari is very ferocious in the role of policeman Rupesh Singh. After their arrival, there is a barrage of abuses on the screen. It hurts a bit but the character itself is that of a corrupt policeman. Rest of the actors like Ankita Sharma and Riddhi Kakkar have done their job well. The actor who has impressed after Ritwik is Ashish Verma who has been appearing in supporting roles for a long time. In this, he has acted according to the character and has been very successful.

Ketan Sodha’s music is wonderful. Ketan has composed background music for many films and web series like Luka Chuppi, Stree, Roohi, The Family Man. His father Mr. Kishore Sodha has been working as a trumpet player in films for several decades and has performed with every major musician. Ketan has inherited music and he expresses this every time through his work. In this series also he has presented many colors of music. Theme music also sounds quite scary. Stanley Muda’s cinematography is amazing. Each and every frame and its lighting has been done amazingly. In this series, there is a feeling of unknown fear in every scene, even if it is a romantic scene. The editor of the series is Dev Raj Jadhav whose this is his first web series but he has edited many films like Badhaai Ho, Tevar, Fukrey Returns before this. The momentum of the series has been maintained. Somewhere it deviates from the story but then returns to the original track.

Finally the talk of director Manoj Pillai. More steps have been taken for web series from the world of advertising. Very nice job done. Manoj has a good understanding of scene lighting, although he will have to work hard on how to improve the scene and how the characters can be brought into action. The characters are sitting most of the time. If you have a good grip on camera movement, then every scene can be filmed like an action scene. Manoj’s debut as a web series director is strong. Influenced by the stories of Vyapam scam, a film came out Halahal which is different from this web series but may look better. That too can be seen. For now, watch The Whistleblower. It is possible that the story may not seem new, but it has been written honestly. The way in which the real incidents have been kept in the series by slightly distorting the names of the characters, the question definitely comes to mind that why it has not been banned till now.

First read breaking news in Hindi News18 Hindi| Read today’s latest news, live news updates, most reliable Hindi news website News18 Hindi.

Tags: movie review, Ravi Kishan