I like how Aashiq Abu does tension here, in a very matter-of-fact and subtle manner. The moment Chandraprakash is walked over by his editor has all the potential for heightened drama, but the director holds back and reserves the release of this tension for CP’s eventual transformation. Here’s where the film peaks, and begins to shift into a dark, almost satirical zone. (This stretch gave me flashbacks to the messy Trance from 2020.) But I wish the film held onto the edgy mood it gains here.

We’re promised this exciting, deranged persona of a news anchor, who has the motivation to nosedive into a maniac. But the character isn’t sketched beyond a couple of these attributes. He remains a maniac, with no hint of complexity beyond a hint at broken parenting. What he wants, or what keeps him ticking isn’t fleshed out enough, not at the right moments at least. Eventually, Tovino’s measured performance feels truncated because he doesn’t seem to have much meat to work with.

The film also builds up promise on the journey of secondary characters – something that Abu did so well in Virus – but it fails to round them all up in a fitting way. This brings me to the problem with the final stretch of the film, which suddenly veers into courtroom drama territory. I get the idea, you can talk down upon your right-wing protagonist all you want through authority, but for all the initial setup of a gritty, sprawling coverage of the press’s internal workings, this ends up feeling like a not-so-subtle, easy way out. This portion works on its own, with a terrific combination of actors in Indrans and Anna Ben, but it buries the narrative that was promised.

I will still regard this film as an interesting watch for being a good recollection of its times, with hysterically conservative voices wrecking havoc in prime time TV news. Again, Aashiq Abu’s acute presentation of a system and its stakeholders, makes for interesting cinema, and I’m looking forward to more of the same kind from him.