Amithab Bachchan's RANN (Hindi with English Sub Titles) A RamGopal Varma's Film 9:00pm January 29th 2010 Friday 2:00 & 9:00pm January 30th 2010 Saturday 2:00pm & 7:00pm January 31st 2010 Sunday 7:30pm February 1st 2010 Monday 7:30pm February 2nd 2010 Tuesday

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Producer: Madhu Mantena & Sheetal Talwar

Director: Ram Gopal Verma

Star Cast: Amitabh Bachchan, Sudeep, Ritesh Deshmukh, Mohnish Behl, Paresh Rawal, Suchitra, Gul Panag & others

Genre: Drama, Media, Politics

Sound: Dolby Digital Surround; Format: Widescreen

Language: Hindi; Subtitles: English 

Running Time: 140minutes(tentative)

SYNOPSIS: Vijay Harshvardhan Malik (Amitabh Bachchan), India's most respected media baron, is synonymous with integrity, dignity and positive energy. Despite his popularity his channel suffers from poor viewership and advertising revenues because he believes in staying clear of sensationalized content. He is of the view that news should be reported as is, and not created.

Vijay’s son, Jay (Sudeep) is a go-getter and views his father’s channel purely as a business enterprise. Jay is unhappy with the channel’s predicament and with the fact that the reigning number one channel in the country is being run by Vijay’s arch rival, Amrish Kakkar (Mohnish Bahl), who was previously an employee in his father's channel. Jay takes it upon himself to restore his channel’s lost glory.  

His father's implicit trust in him enables Jay to revamp the channel’s programming content but he is unknowingly deceived by his colleague, Nalini (Suchitra Krishnamoorthi), who leaks out information to Amrish’s competing channel. Just when a despondent Jay hits a dead end on realizing that his enterprise is a lost cause, a political faction lures him with an irresistible proposition that promises to revive the sagging fortunes of his company.

This is one sinister offer Jay simply will not pass on even if it means betraying his father and his father unknowingly betraying the entire nation. Much to Amrish’s anger and Vijay’s delight, Jay’s plan yields fruit and his channel surges its way to the top ousting Amrish’s.  

Purab Shastri (Riteish Deshmukh), a young graduate of journalism, who idolizes Vijay and works as an investigative journalist, silently observes the proceedings from the wings and shares his concerns with his live-in girlfriend, Nandita (Gul Panag). When he stumbles upon a critical piece of evidence that threatens to expose Jay’s plan, a visibly shaken Purab approaches his immediate superior Nalini who takes him to Amrish. A brainwashed Purab hands over the evidence to Amrish, but sadly for the latter Purab turns out to be smarter than expected! The entire exercise eventually takes its toll on Purab who is sorely disillusioned with the hollow state of affairs in the media.

He goes up to his mentor, Vijay, and reveals his plans of quitting the profession. Vijay, who is in a state of shock and disbelief, watches his promising protégé leave. After watching Purab’s evidence the old man is faced with the dilemma of choosing between his loving son, and the truth, which would destroy all that he had built. The veteran journalist realizes that he has no choice but to go to war with himself, and the only weapon he has is – TRUTH! 

From Ram Gopal Varma, the master director of successful power-packed dramas, Satya, Company, Sarkar and Sarkar Raj, Rann takes an audaciously hard-hitting look at the web of politics within the Indian electronic media.

Amitabh Bachchan as Harshvardhan Malik - The founder of the first ever private news channel in the country INDIA 24/7, the Harvard-educated Harshvardhan Malik is India’s most respected media personality. He is a hardcore upholder of journalistic ethics. No wonder his Channel is battling for survival!

Riteish Deshmukh as Purab Shastri - Armed with a degree in journalism, Purab Shastri truly believes that the media should be the check point for the people of a country, and therefore, it should report news, instead of manufacturing news. Purab’s thinking sets him apart from most youngsters of this country. While everyone is chasing their individual dreams, Purab aggressively wants to work towards a better India. Needless to say, a clash between Purab and the powers-that-be looks inevitable. It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong! 

 

Sudeep as Jay Malik - A go-getter and highly aggressive and ambitious son of Harshvardhan Malik, Jay looks at his Dad’s news channel purely as a business enterprise that must make profits to justify its existence. He hates that his competition is doing better than him.

Paresh Rawal as Mohan Pandey - It is every politician’s dream to become the Prime Minister of his country. To that extent, the leader of the opposition Mohan Pandey is no different from his contemporaries. The only difference being - if the need arises, Pandey can and will kill to get the coveted chair. 

Gul Panag as Nandita Sharma - The assistant of an ad filmmaker, Nandita Sharma someday hopes to bag an independent feature film. She is in a live-in relationship with her boyfriend Purab. Nandita is smart, educated, and intelligent. She is also highly indifferent to what’s happening in the country, and first thinks about herself and her man, before anything or anybody else. 

Mohnish Behl as Amrish Kakkar - He was the first to have the VISION and the foresight to realize that even the business of delivering NEWS can be made ENTERTAINING. Amrish therefore can be safely held singularly responsible for taking the television news industry to the dogs, or to the heights, depending on how you see it.

Rajat Kapoor as Naveen Shankalya - Apart from being the son-in-law of Harshvardhan Malik, is also one of the topmost industrialists of the country. Despite this, he is the most insecure man on earth, and won’t rest till he becomes the number one industrialist in the country. His best buddy Mohan Pandey becoming the Prime Minister of India will surely help his cause.

Rajpal Yadav as Anand Prakash Trivedi - A creative editor, Anand Prakash Trivedi has a knack for sensationalizing even the driest story and making it sound like the story of the decade with super catchy headlines. More than any filmmaker, he makes far better movies. Only, he calls them NEWS. 

Suchitra Krishnamoorty as Nalini Kashyap - She is the programming head of Harshvardhan Malik’s news channel, INDIA 24/7. Having been in the industry for long enough, she has developed a practical view of how things operate here. And this comes in direct conflict with what her boss. Harshvardhan Malik, thinks. Juggling the cut-throat world outside with the idealistic universe of her boss, Nalini Kashyap has her job cut out. 

Neetu Chandra as Yasmin Hussain - An ex-model, and fiancée of Jay Malik, Yasmin watches TV, reads gossip columns, and for most part, takes everything that is dished out to her, AT FACE VALUE. She does not understand the intricacies of power games, and hidden motivations behind actions of people. The resources at her disposal to know what is true and what is not, are limited.