Handling the crime beat for a daily tabloid is not easy. The pressure bears down even more when a gang shootout has taken place in broad daylight and the story must run on the next day’s front page, of course with details that no other newspaper in town has published yet. But what happens when you need a bit more time to gather those details, and while chasing leads you get a scoop on a high-profile scam? A crime reporter turns into an investigative journalist, and more! Headlined by Manoj Bajpayee, filmmaker Kanu Behl’s pulsating, genre-splicing media procedural Despatch cleverly distills the newsroom hustle to intently follow a seasoned journalist, who is just as much tormented by his own life choices (and conceitedness) as he is consumed by the stories that he wants to break, almost always teetering on the brink of tumult. Produced by Ronnie Screwvala, under RSVP Movies, Despatch will be streaming on ZEE5 from December 13.
Meet Joy Bag (Manoj), a fearless reporter covering crime for the daily tabloid Despatch in Mumbai. The story is set in 2012 when the urge to tweet or post every small news update on social media was yet to catch on and newsroom editors were still more fixated on copies and headlines for the next morning’s print edition. Nonetheless, a new ‘Digital Editor’ is added to the company payroll to keep the ‘brand alive’ and ensure salaries are not slashed. Joy, on the other hand, is determined to run Page 1 exclusives about the sensational gangster murder for four weeks no less. His editor (Riju Bajaj) is not convinced though.
Cut to family life, Joy is married to Shweta Bag (Shahana Goswami). But quite visibly, the couple have fallen out of love, and Joy seems to be trying hard to break free from this marriage and settle down with his colleague Prerna Prakash (Arrchita Agarwaal), with whom he is pursuing a steamy affair at the office. There’s some disagreement between Shweta and Joy’s mother and brother. The mother and son no longer stay with the couple, but Joy continues to resent his wife. On the other hand, he is trying to rent an apartment with Prerna, who is also helping him with his upcoming book and is willing to become his literary agent if need be.
Joy’s resoluteness to get to the core of a case is known among the city’s cops and khabris alike. “Pagal hai yeh. Iska mood thik karna ho toh story de do isko ek naya,” a policeman jokingly commented, as Joy tagged along with them to the dock, just to get a ‘frontpage photo’ of the man who opened fire on the gangster in the middle of the road. While there is no denying that there is a lot of pressure on him to meet deadlines, Joy is also someone who detests ‘armchair journalism’. He would much rather go out to the field and have his nose punched by a criminal than file a story simply by making calls sitting at the office desk.
The plot takes a turn when Joy gets a ‘tip’ on the ‘GD Reality 2G Scam’ – the infamous 2G spectrum political controversy that rattled the nation over a decade ago. [The Time magazine had ranked the 2G scam as the world’s second-biggest abuse of executive power.] Although he was alerted by many – including his peer Noori Rai (Rii Sen) – that going any further into the case would mean ruffling the dangerous underbelly of money laundering and crime, Joy is hell-bent on pursuing the story whatsoever. He begins by trying to locate the digital (cloud) copies that the Central Vigilance Commission had recovered during a previous raid at the GDR offices.
One thing leads to another and he reaches Delhi and then London, just to gather more information about the ‘stolen top secret file’ and the elusive ‘asli chehra’ behind GDR, risking his own life every step of the way. There’s a spasm of mental pain, as he’s neither able to concentrate on the murder story nor get anything substantial on the 2G front, which he later finds out also has connections with a T20 fugitive. Eventually, there comes a point when he gets so consumed by this case that he just continues to march on, no matter what. Director Kanu has mentioned in his recent interviews that the underlying idea was to draw up a character portrait, which is sort of ‘Faustian… About a man who’s out to sell his soul’. That aspect is quite perceivable in the film. Meanwhile, Noori, who’s also been chasing the same story (in a far less frenzied manner though) for another publication, is trying her best to put him through different ‘sources’, but it’s a dead end everywhere. The more he tries to unravel the conundrum, the more muddled it turns. The film’s rather grimy colour palette and the design elements used in the narrative – including the mentioning of neelkanth in a conversation between Joy and Wadhwa (Kabir Sadanand) as well as the sudden appearance of Gandhi’s wise words on a wall, ‘Live as if you were to die tomorrow…’ – are emblematic of the obscurity of a world that Joy is painstakingly trying to pierce through. His bullheaded approach to finding answers to those questions is only pushing him toward troubled waters.
Cleverly crafted by Kanu, Despatch is easily one of the most absorbing crime-investigative thrillers released in recent times. The movie focuses on a very different side to ‘fearless’ journalism that some may argue no longer exists. But in doing so, the narrative does not bend toward adulating the lead character. Besides his vulnerabilities and insecurities, Joy is also a deeply flawed character. No doubt, he has an exceptionally sharp mind that passionately unravels every mystery at hand. But he’s also very patriarchal by nature and just expects everyone to submit to his whims and decisions, so much so that he unwittingly displays an aloof disregard for the feelings of those around him. The way he treats Shweta who pays him a surprise visit in Delhi, in a bid to mend their frayed relationship, lays bare his own insurmountable inner conflicts and unwelcome masculinity. Even when he’s with Prerna, there’s a sense of uncertainty that he constantly seems to combat. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that Joy just cannot put anyone else ahead of himself.
It’s important to mention here that although it’s the protagonist’s untiring pursuits that the plot doggedly follows, Despatch’s bold female characters have a strong influence on the flow of the narrative. While Shweta refuses to put up with her husband’s smugness and foul conduct at home, Prerna wouldn’t dance to her lover’s fantasies either. Noori agrees to help Joy only when she too gets an exclusive byline. Even whistleblower Nisha Lodha (Hansa Singh) wouldn’t budge just because a star reporter goes to meet her at work. There are some awe-inspiring performances put up by Rii, Shahana, and Arrchita in the film.
Written by Ishani Banerjee and Kanu, and edited by Samarth Dixit, Despatch is a pacy yet nuanced procedural drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat, while also nudging you to think and reflect at every turn of events. While there are clear analogies between the 2G scam and the themes used in the movie, one cannot help but find an uncanny resemblance to the ‘Saradha Chit Fund Scam’ that led to the closure of a few media houses around the same time. The movie is dotted with several curious sequences, which are equal parts amusing and daring. In one, the protagonist is seen engaging in a tussle with a scruffy criminal with a camera hanging around his neck, while in another he is beating up someone in the police lockup. But what seems to be making people more intrigued are the portions in which Manoj (possibly for the first time ever) is seen naked and doing intimate scenes. Honestly, those are just a part of the narrative and not intended to titillate.
On the whole, Kanu Beh’s Despatch is a deft character study rather than a recap of some of India’s most notorious financial scams. It’s about an unflinching crime reporter’s maddening attempt to break stories, while his personal life is falling apart. The movie is also a pertinent commentary on India’s soul-lost media industry, if you care to look. It’s not an inspiring story per se, nor does it take a moralising undertone at any point. On the contrary, Despatch is a ‘tightly-subbed’ film punctuated by clever detailing and intelligently narrated by a brilliant cast. Once again, Manoj Bajpayee delivers an unforgettable performance with powerhouse finesse. Don’t miss Joy Bag’s freak conversations with Silva (Mamik Singh) and Wadhwa.
