User Reviews

Made way back in 2014 and released in theatres just when they opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rituparno Ghosh's brother Indranil Ghosh's film 'Shironam' (Headline) had some tough competition with several other big Bengali releases. However, it managed to stand out on its own merit. When Abhin Ray (Jisshu Sengupta), a rookie journalist, goes missing after going to interview an insurgent, the executive editor of the News Channel he works on, Rajat (Anjan Dutta) twists the tale with the announcement that Abhin is kidnapped by the insurgents which he deems perfect opportunity to milk the story for all its TRP and lucrative potential. The one who defies this news is the senior channel executive Sujit (Saswata Chatterjee) who was with Abhin up until he disappeared as him and Abhin were waiting to interview an insurgent leader but since it got cancelled they decided to wait, but Abhin soon is nowhere to be found. This announcement take a toll on Anandi (Swastika Mukherjee), Abhin's wife, who feels confused as to what to believe about the truth regarding his husband. You might think this is all the storyline has to offer but the director had different cards up his sleeves. It turns out to be a completely different ball game for the power hungry people as it leads to a myriad social drama, seen through the lens of TV journalists, editors and the commercial interests that drive the news industry. It shows the helplessness of the individual as a consequence of media war. The director very cleverly plays out the personal trauma of Anandi, the media's unscrupulous handling of Abhin's situation, and Abhin's own journey of a discovery the film pokes its nose on many issues but falters its way trying to jam them into one. It isn't a bad though but one point to duly note is as the film was made way back in 2014, some references throughout the film might feel out-dated such as the 'Hok Kolorob' reference to back-in-the time fresh educational institutiute incident and the actors do look younger than they look now but we can forgive everything as it partly acts as an exposé of the media frenzy but doesn't quite hit the ground on what kind of film it wanted to be. The characters are given less time to develop so it is possible they won't grow on you. But even this flawed piece has enough juice to get you going and Sirsha Ray's cinematography is nuanced and poignant. In the end, my first outing after a long time in theatres turned out to be a decent fare and I will wait to see what this new director does next.