Breaking News
Actual functioning of media has traditionally been looked with keen interest, especially by followers of alternate cinema. The farthest one can remember is Amitabh Bachchan's 'Main Azaad Hoon' that received intense critical acclaim. Madhur Bhandarkar's 'Page 3' worked both critically and commercially while 'Corporate' too seems to be going on the same route. In between came Shahrukh Khan's 'Phir Bhi Dil Hai Hindustani' but an attempt to mix art and commerce didn't really cut ice with many, though in retrospective the film seems to be have released way ahead of its times.
Now comes yet another film that aims at exposing the games played by media in their attempt to announce, plant or sometimes even manufacture 'breaking news'. And this is where the film takes its title - BREAKING NEWS! While there has been a world where news breaks all by itself and arrives on your door steps, there is also a world where news has to be created in order to have it break in front of millions of viewers.
STING OPERATION is one such tool to facilitate that!
An operation that depends a lot on glamour, sensationalism and controversies.
Vidya [Koel Purie] is one such journalist who gets involved in a operation masterminded by her. But was it an easy living for her from hereon?
A committed professional, Vidya had just begun her career as a news correspondent and was satisfied with her stint with the entertainment world. But this was not what she was destined to do as some organizational reshuffling results in her shift to crime reporting.
Little was she aware that this shuffle would result in shuffling of her ethics, principals and even her life!
Starting as a novice, she soon learns the tricks of the trade and finds her way up on the ladder as she starts delivering one breaking news after another for her channel. With her confident boosting up due to her success, she starts getting better assignments to work on. With her morale at an all time high, she comes across a story that brings a complete shift in her attitude towards the world of journalism!
The story is about the plight of a girl called Sangeeta, who calls her up and narrates the trauma she was going through. Apparently numerous officials from the local police had been sexually abusing her for a long time and she had finally mustered courage to approach media for help. Excited and all charged up for this challenge, Vidya plans a sting operation to help the girl and arrives at the sight of the crime with her team.
Unfortunately the unexpected happens when instead of the SP [whom they had originally tried to nail down in the operation], the DIG arrives and actually rapes Sangeeta. As the entire episode is captured live on the camera, she and her cameraman Rafiq are distressed with the task that they had in hand since they couldn't do anything to help the victim.
On the other hand they are also left with a bad taste in the mouth since officials at their news channel were happy with the footage they had in hand, which could further boost their TRPs. While Vidya warns the channel against using this footage and ensures Sangeeta that none of this would happen, the two women are shattered when the actually see the footage right in front of their eyes on the small screen.
After such a bitter experience, Vidya's conscience left her with no other option than to resign from her current job and join her uncle's press that still belonged to the old world where news was actually news! Her partners in her quest to bring to fore the REAL news were Rafuq, Bala (who himself was a crime correspondent in rival channel) and Trishna (who was her batch mate in journalism course).
Individually they may have had different point of opinions<