The Broken News Review: Sonali Bendre, Shriya Pilgaonkar & Jaideep Ahlawat In Top Form

Runtime: 8 episodes 38 mins. each

A decent attempt at bringing to light the behind-the-small-screen skirmishes between two rival news channels, this BBC adaptation of the 2018 BBC One series “Press,” created by playwright-screenwriter Mike Bartlett, works up a fair bit of steam as it gathers news bytes on its way to the TRP sweepstakes.

Awaaz Bharati is the idealistic news channel that prefers breaking genuine stories over competing for TRP’s with sensationalistic presentations that Josh 24x7, its polar opposite, revels in.

Both teams - Awaaz Bharati’s led by Amina Qureshi (Sonali Bendre) and Josh 24x7s led by Dipanker Sanyal (Jaideep Ahlawat) go about news gathering and presenting in contrary fashion, where we see ethical journalism on a confrontational path with sensationalism. This is best exemplified by the opening gambit where you see news room antics that lead up to Awaaz Bharati’s young and dynamic reporter Radha Bhargav (Shriya Pilgaonkar) being led away by the cops on charges of sedition – for breaking the story on data theft authorised by the home ministry itself.

The small-town (Indore) girl, who works her way up the ladder to become the new face of a rejuvenated news channel asserts her version of true patriotism which according to her, lies in defending the nation against the government. "Sarkar ka virodh desh ka virodh nahi hai," is the voiceover we hear through the eight chapters of the series, as it prepares the ground for a second season.

As the two channels compete for screen space and time, they chalk up quite a bit of dramatics, lending interest, tenuous engagement and some tension in its wake.

The Broken News takes the audience on a walk-through of how channels decide on their primetime stories and the back-end machinations employed by reporters and stringers to get to the prized story.

The Broken News, directed by Vinay Waikul and scripted by Sambit Mishra, is developed to suit Indian audiences and focusses on two rival news channels for its fodder (unlike the single-season 6-part original, which revolved around two rival British newspapers).

While the series does not exactly reflect the current realities of the television news media in the Indian context, it does manage to give us a fair understanding of the mechanics involved in news gathering and what constitutes 'breaking news’ in today’s times.

The political, personal, procedural and professional merge in a presentation that seems to be operating in a vacuum where only two main news presenters lord it over.

The journalist characters in The Broken News are not well fleshed out nor are they written with any great understanding of the profession.

While rigged ratings and questions about funding do crop up along the way, the show conveniently shies away from issues that currently plague Indian Television journalism - like all-out government propaganda, opposition bashing, the proliferation of fake news, news anchor led vitriolic discussions, lynch-mob mindset of journalists, absurd theatrics employed by anchors and presenters, minority bashing and intolerance.

It’s not very clear what story this series wants to tell even though the voiceover quite categorically primps for a righteous one.

The show may not be as exciting or tension-ridden as originally envisaged but it does manage to hold your attention – thanks to the smart casting and riveting performances. Sonali Bendre makes her OTT debut memorable, Shriya Pilgaonkar reminds us once again why she is such a terrific actress and Jaideep Ahlawat towers over the rest with his compelling presence and craft.