'Dial 100' Movie Review: Dial down dude

Dial 100On ZEE5Dir Rensil DrsquoSilvaCast Manoj Bajpayee Neena Gupta Sakshi TanwarRating 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 whorsquos out and about issuing instructions over the phone while holding a helpless police officer to ransomThink 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 Therersquos no question of comparing Kher and Shah to other actors let alone each otherBut it must be said still that both the lead actors in this film Manoj Bajpayee 52 and Neena Gupta 62 mdash particularly given an almost miraculous second wave in their careers theyrsquore currently riding mdash would be irreplaceableunbeatable for a film like this altogether centred on two performers aloneParticularly Bajpayee He plays the cop on nightduty at a rather snazzy looking Mumbai police control room Hersquos of course played a cop of a different kind almost backtoback 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 arthouse film by the same nameAnd 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 womanShe has the cop in her handglove mdash issuing ultimatums and instructions to him over the police helpline 100 The last time we saw her rude and cutthroat on screen was probably in the reality TV show Kamzor Kadi Kaun back in the day She appears way more real hereSo far as this thriller is concerned time is limited Itrsquos ticking There are lives at stake Itrsquos 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 donrsquot ever take your eyes off the screen Their jobrsquos doneHerersquos an issue with twocharacter movies with a onedimensional goal though One of course that I canrsquot list out to you any of the details at great length or at all in fact mdash what lies beneath all thatrsquos going on The plot has an inbuilt spoiler and therefore a bullshit detector that canrsquot be brought outAnd yet everything really boils down to whatrsquos at stake here isnrsquot it What if sometimes sheer stupidity is Yes I can say that for sure Or maybe simply suggest mdash imagine a coldblooded murder right inside a cop station would nobody careWorse still think of all the reasonsoptions the woman could be after the police officer You dig deeper and deeper lsquokhoda pahadrsquo and find a pointless mouse that really canrsquot quite explain the ensuing chaseHow do you reconcile yourself to all of this then Perhaps by considering this as a half decent lockdown film assuming thatrsquos when they shot it mdash 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 alrightAlso readNeena Gupta Donrsquot like negative roles as one gets bracketedOr you could dwell on the filmrsquos chief inspiration Which as it turns out is a hit and run case involving a top industrialistrsquos kid who got away Nothing of this incident was really reported in the news media mdash half of which is too scared and the other half bought over If it sounds familiar you laud the filmmakers for being lsquooh so braversquo after all I didBarring all of the above letrsquos just say you canrsquot fault the setup mdash which is a genre of its own The reason you stick around though is mdash whatrsquos this convoluted revenge drama about or well what happens next or eventually You play that in your head once itrsquos all over and wonder if it makes much sense Thatrsquos the payoff Sorry itrsquos a serious pissoffAlso readDial 100 director Rensil DrsquoSilva Visiting control room was an eyeopener