The latest offering of Zee5 is Dial 100, featuring the ever-excellent Manoj Bajpayee. Up to what extent a filmmaker can rely solely on this brilliant talent? Even if he turns out to be the saving grace of the film, the other flaws in it can’t be ignored so easily. Dial 100 is a typical story that pans out across one night. It’s also shallow because of which we fail to develop a strong emotional connection while watching it. The trailer has further spoiled the overall viewing experience.
In the trailer of Dial 100, we see a lady (Neena Gupta) seeking justice. It’s not so hard to guess the reason behind her specifically calling Manoj Bajpayee for the same. The film tries very hard to generate some kind of curiosity by mentioning a past incident, but it fails to retain it even for half an hour. This particular incident turning out to be the link between the central characters comes as a no brainer. Writer-director Rensil D’Silva puts in his best effort to ensure that Dial 100 stands out from the other films in this genre but falls flat.
Dial 100 is largely ineffective. Though it is predictable for most of the time, the unexpected moments that appear towards the end of the film lack the spark that could make us feel anything for the people living that moment. I didn’t expect the climax to take the turn it takes but that doesn’t help much in improving our final opinion about the film. The last ten minutes felt like the film is forcing us to feel emotional, but all our emotions are killed by the film itself in the previous ninety-five minutes.
Rensil D’Silva tries to capture our attention at the beginning with a long conversation between Neena Gupta and Manoj Bajpayee. The dialogues written by Niranjan Iyengar are quite lacklustre because I could barely recollect any lines from the film. The lines are very situational and rarely get emotional which are required so the film takes the support of the background score which is trying hard to intensify the mood but sadly it fails. The film starts to sound unnecessarily loud towards the end, bringing our attention to the trick of using the background score to enhance our viewing experience.
Neena Gupta is also unnecessarily loud in the film. Her every emotion comes across as an overreaction considering the situation she is in. She adds unnecessary drama in her dialogue delivery spoiling the rawness of the scene maintained by every other actor in the frame and the overall film. Sakshi Tanwar is unimaginably earnest. She is an absolute delight in the film but her last scene gets her some brownie points. She is never craving for some spotlight even in the frames that have just her she beautifully focuses on staying natural throughout.
Manoj Bajpayee doesn’t just steal the show but also keeps it running. The changing expressions on his face as per the changing situations makes us feel his heart and mind as a troubled parent, spouse and professional. He doesn’t really need to create such speechless impressions especially after delivering such outstanding performances throughout his career. Maybe that’s exactly what makes us admire him more with his every performance. In all honesty, Dial 100 wouldn’t have survived without a Manoj Bajpayee and that’s the sad aspect of the film and more of its makers.
Dial 100 isn’t totally avoidable because of its fairly good production value that helps us survive this rather ordinary story. The one which includes common man, police and their helplessness formed because of the influential people. While I liked the thought of Neena Gupta giving the same pain to Manoj Bajpayee and Sakshi Tanwar that she dealt with most difficulty, I was waiting for that answer which the climax of the trailer promised in the film. Leaving that unanswered bothered me a lot.
meri maaa, CINEMAAA 