Dhamaka On Netflix, An Indian Thriller Where A Journalist Tries To Use A Terrorist To Revive His Career

The pandemic has dramatically changed the way movies are made; From spot testing and intense protocols to smaller-scale productions, storytellers have found countless ways to keep making movies even when the world is in total chaos. The Guilty, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, was filmed in just 11 days and took place in a single location, and wowed critics despite its low-scale production. Indian Horror Movies Dhamaka, which is currently streaming on Netflix, has also achieved the same feat.

DHAMAKA: SHOULD BE PARTICIPATE OR FORGET?

Gist: Arjun Pathak (Kartik Aaryan) and his wife Soumya Mehra Pathak (Mrunal Thakur) have it all; They love each other passionately, have successful journalism careers and always support each other. That is, until they don’t; When we met the current Arjun, he was sitting in the dark, staring at the divorce papers. Looks like their happily ever after didn’t turn out to be so happy, and he has now been fired from his primetime news reporter position and demoted to radio. It seemed like an ordinary day until the station received a very strange call; A man who initially seemed angry about his financial situation and the government’s disregard for their people claimed to have a bomb. Arjun tells him to go ahead and blow up the Sea-Link bridge if that’s really true – and to everyone’s horror and surprise, he does.

Rather than absorb this tragedy, Arjun sees this as an opportunity to regain his original position; He negotiates with his ruthless producer for a spot on the air, and he continues his conversation with the terrorist. What started as a twisted plan soon got completely out of hand. Despite what Arjun wants to believe, he’s completely out of control; There’s a bomb in his ear, ready to kill him at any moment, and if this terrorist doesn’t get an apology from the government for the deaths of his construction worker friends, he will only cause more destruction. Now Arjun must try to save lives – including his and his wife’s – before it’s too late.

What movies will remind you of?: Dhamaka Based on the Korean hit movie The Terror Liveand can also remind you of movies like Nightcrawler, Money Monster, and Main time.

Performances worth watching: Kartik Aaryan’s Arjun Pathak may not always be the easiest to root for, but he delivered a helluva performance that captivated us like a loving husband in the opening montage and instantly lost us as soon as we met his present, ailing radio host staring down at his divorce papers. While the text may lack the depth that Aaryan’s performance deserves, he does what he can with the material, expressing the shock and horror of the situation as it escalates. His character may not always be the easiest to derive, but boy, is he fun to watch.

Memorable dialogue: The dialogue in Dhamaka pay close attention to the lines spoon feeds us, such as “he is playing a game with you” and “if our rating is higher than 70%, he will appoint me as director”, to name a couple.

Gender and Skin: Not available.

Our Take: The premise of Dhamaka seems solid enough at the beginning; A faltering star journalist seizes the opportunity to regain attention through his unexpected relationship with a terrorist. The terrorist turned out to be essentially holding his life hostage, and despite the pleas of some to stop him from airing, the producers managed to… keep the ratings going. It’s not like this sort of thing is entirely out of the question – we’ve certainly seen some horrors exploited to draw viewers in – but it’s all about context. In the world of Dhamaka, this move is like jumping shark; once someone is actually killed on the air, it seems like the right move to listen to the anchor who is also in danger, but this chilling producer relentlessly continues the story so that she eventually may also be promoted. Enough has happened to the terrorist, and is this the pretext used to continue the drama in the studio? It feels silly.

Solve problems with Dhamakaof writing aside, the direction is very good; The tension is raised quickly and effectively, and it’s maintained for much of the film’s length. This is also thanks in large part to the engaging performances from actors willing to do silly things like smoke cigarettes as if they were in a ’90s horror movie and drive their cars back and forth. tired. These characters are thinly written, ruthless caricatures that aim to sell a familiar story about how the media is willing to do anything for the numbers. There is something interesting in the whole concept of Dhamaka – it apparently worked before in The Terror Live – but sadly, it didn’t come to me in the end.

Our call: IGNORE IT. When Dhamaka is a gripping thriller, its characters are shallow and difficult to engage on an emotional level, leaving us empty at the time the credits shoot.

Jade Budowski is a freelance writer with a knack for breaking ground-breaking stories, singing karaoke mics and tweeting avidly. Follow her on Twitter: @jadebudowski.

Current Dhamaka on Netflix