The Broken News 2 REVIEW: Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shriya Pilgaonkar’s show is a complete mockery of journalism that is no less than a daily soap

Film:
The Broken News season 2

Director: Vinay Waikul

Writer: Sambit Mishra

Cast: Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat, Shriya Pilgaonkar, Indraneil Sengupta, Faisal Rashid, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya, Taaruk Raina, Akshay Oberoi, Suchitra Pillai and Geetika Vidya Ohlyan.

Episodes: 08

Runtime: 290 mins (approx)

The Broken News Season 2 Review

‘The Broken News’ starring Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat and Shriya Pilgaonkar is based on the BBC Studios format ‘Press’. The Hindi version is directed by Vinay Waikul and written by Sambit Mishra. The new season sees Sonali Bendre, Jaideep Ahlawat, and Shriya Pilgaonkar reprise their roles as Amina Qureshi, Dipankar Sanyal and Radha Bhargava respectively. Returning after a gap of two years, the new season sees the fight for ideologies between the two broadcast news channels, ‘Josh 24×7’ and ‘Awaz Bharti’ scale new heights.

After watching season 2, it seems like The Broken News season 1 was much better. The previous season made sense, this one seems to be a sheer mockery of journalism. Some of the aspects of the series are just nonsense. In the series, the two reporters are openly defaming the rivalry channel without any repercussions. In reality, the channel can book a defamation case against the rival channel if they are constantly been targetted and called anti-national. You would wonder about things like ‘Where is the code of ethics in journalism?’

The two reporters Radha and Dipankar are constantly pulling each other down, trying to demean each other on national television and their editor-in-chief or the CEO of the company doesn’t seem to care. The two are contradicting each other’s story. They are mentioning each other’s name in their respective channels and all this drama is happening without any consequences? It is just bizarre. The makers have made a joke out of journalism where Radha and Dipankar are fighting like ‘saas-bahu’. This mockery out of journalism looks no less than an Ekta Kapoor serial. 

Story

Two leading Indian news channels – Awaaz Bharati News, headlined by Amina Qureshi and Josh 24/7 headlined by Dipankar Sanyal are in a race to tell interesting and breaking news to their viewers but on different grounds and beliefs. The story starts with Radha Bhargava in jail after Dipankar accused her of being anti-nationalist. However, the war between Radha and Dipankar starts when they both try to pull each other down on national television. Both news channels have opposing principles that lead to a fierce rivalry. Amidst this rivalry, Amina Qureshi continues her journey to find truth in her stories. She sticks to true journalism and maintains sanity amidst the chaos between Radha and Dipankar. But journalism made them pay a price that changed their life completely.

What’s good about the series

Storyline: The story gets interesting only after 4th or 5th episode. Before that, it is all about cat and dog fights on national television. The story gets engaging when they focus on the core of journalism. It compels you to watch the next episode, which has been missing in the first half of the season. 

Performances: The core member​s of the story – Radha, Dipankar and Amina played by Shriya, Jaideep and Sonali respectively have done a fabulous job with their characters. Jaideep is a power-hungry person whereas Shriya lives in a delusion and amidst the chaos, Sonali brings the sanity with her character. The three of them make the show even more gripping and interesting. They have given their best in this series and it is truly evident onscreen. Special mention to Shriya who played her part with utmost conviction that she can literally make you hate her character. And that’s the kind of power an actor should have while playing a certain character.

What’s not good about the series

Screenplay: To make a story, it seems the writer couldn’t understand where to draw lines between reality and fiction. The lines have become blurred in this season. Writer Sambit Mishra has loosely written the story without thinking about the basic technical aspects. Not completely disregarding the facts some journalist are in this business only to share their agenda or propaganda. And that’s what The Broken News tries to show but not in a dignified way. Some scenes are so far-fetched that you don’t feel connected to the story. There’s a scene where Radha is anchoring live on national television in an inebriated state. In reality, you will be terminated from the position immediately; however, you don’t see that here. Moreover, the story gets predictable towards the end.

Subplots: The story is about the reporters fighting for the truth and investigating deeply for a story. But the second season has several sub-plots and the story is all over the place. The core of the story of The Broken News was how Radha investigated ‘Operation Umbrella’; however, the topic seemed to have been sidelined in the second season. The motive of the story gets lost as a lot of other things come in between.

Not saying that such things are not happening in the media industry; however, slamming the rival channel openly is too fictitious and casually written. In reality, if a reporter slams another reporter from the rival channel, they can take serious action. But everything in The Broken News 2 seems normal and common. Despite having plenty of subplots, some of them don’t have a proper conclusion. It’s left in the midway and you don’t get the closure.

Performance

Akshay Oberoi is the new cast member joining the star cast of The Broken News 2. His character looks mysterious in the beginning and Akshay maintains it with great panache. Akshay delivers a decent performance in the series.

Other supporting casts like Indraneil Sengupta as Pankaj Awasthi, Faisal Rashid as Kamal Wadia, Sanjeeta Bhattacharya as Juhi Shergill, Taaruk Raina as Anuj Saxena and Dinker Sharma as Nandan Balachandran have done their best and are true to their parts in the web series. They add different levels of depth and meaning to the story.

Conclusion

Concluding the review, unlike the first season, The Broken News 2 seems to be broken in true terms. Apart from the stellar performances by the leads, the second season grips you partially. In fact, it’s okay to give this a miss or you can rewatch the first season.

Watch The Broken News Season 2 trailer after the review

Also read: The Broken News Review: Sonali Bendre makes a smashing debut on OTT as she and Jaideep Ahlawat expose the dark side of journalism