THE INDIA STORY has a powerful subject, but weak writing and dull courtroom drama blunt its impact. Movie Review: THE INDIA STORY's powerful subject is let down by weak writing.

Star Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Kajal Aggarwal Kitchlu

Director: Chettan D K

The India Story Movie Review Synopsis:

THE INDIA STORY is the story of a man taking on the entire system. Yogesh Patil’s (Shreyas Talpade) daughter, Pari (Trisha Sharda), passes away from cancer at the age of six or seven. Yogesh approaches a police station in his city, Pune, and alleges that she was murdered. The cops find his complaint frivolous and throw him out. He then approaches several lawyers, but they, too, decline to fight his case. Finally, Advocate Archana (Kajal Aggarwal Kitchlu) decides to take it up as her first case. At the Bombay High Court, Archana argues before a two-judge bench comprising Justice M Dave (C P Thakur) and Justice J Prabhakar (Atul Tiwari) that Pari died after consuming fruits, vegetables, milk and other food products contaminated with pesticides and harmful chemicals. She holds the farmers, pesticide companies and the government at large responsible for her death and requests the court to take action against them. The case becomes a major talking point across the country. Farmers, in particular, are aghast, as they consider themselves ‘annadaatas’ but are now being branded as murderers. What happens next forms the rest of the film.

The India Story Movie Story Review: Sagar Shinde's story is hard-hitting and astonishing. However, Sagar Shinde's screenplay fails to do justice to such a promising plot. Very few sequences manage to stand out. Sagar Shinde's dialogues are sharp. However, this courtroom drama doesn’t have a single dialogue that will compel viewers to break into applause. Moreover, due to the censor cuts, some of the one-liners fail to create the desired impact.

Chettan D K’s direction is not up to the mark. To give credit where it is due, he brings to the screen a topic that urgently deserves to be discussed. The timing is also apt, given the recent crackdown in Maharashtra on unhygienic practices at prominent restaurants and eateries. A few scenes stand out. In one such sequence, IG Vijay Rathod (Murli Sharma) is aghast upon learning how certain unscrupulous elements in society produce milk. He recalls savouring a milk-based sweet and encouraging his son to drink milk for better health. Another important scene features Archana’s conversation with a farmer, Rajaram (Rahul Belapurkar), who explains why he separately grows the food consumed by his family. Some portions are deeply moving, especially those depicting the ordeal Pari goes through.

However, as aforementioned, a film which is a courtroom drama and which is tackling such a burning topic should have had exhilarating or clapworthy moments. THE INDIA STORY is devoid of any such moment. The opposition lawyer, Vardhan Agnihotri (Manish Wadhwa), does make strong arguments. But shockingly, he doesn’t get any witness from his side. He merely defends the points raised by Archana. Ideally, when such big corporations are involved, they’ll go all out to save their face in the court. However, their head honchos are just shown discussing in boardrooms that the case will destroy their company and then silently accepting their fate! The other issue with the film is that it’s too disturbing, especially the hospital scenes in the second half. Agreed that it was important to show the hardships. Yet, it gets too heavy and may not be liked by the audience. Lastly, the twist at the intermission point is great, but one wonders why Archana hides the fact from the court and the world at large?

The India Story Movie Review Performances: Shreyas Talpade has a limited contribution in the first half. But he dominates key scenes of the post-interval portions and delivers a heartfelt performance. He makes sure not to go overboard and hence; his act looks very authentic. A few of his scenes will leave viewers teary-eyed. Kajal Aggarwal Kitchlu, meanwhile, is the soul of the first half and looks every inch a lawyer with a motive. Performance-wise, she’s first rate. Child actor Trisha Sharda is cute and plays a difficult role with panache. Murli Sharma and Manish Wadhwa are dependable. C P Thakur and Atul Tiwari are decent. Sachin Parekh (Dr Vikrant) and Kamlesh Sawant (Inspector Jangam) leave a mark in small roles. Alok Kapoor (Yogesh's father) and Anu More (Yogesh's mother) get no scope, while Ganesh Yadav (Opposition leader) is wasted.

The India Story movie music and other technical aspects: Mangesh Dhakade's music is poor. Not a single song stands out. 'Gubbara Chaand Ka' consists of animated scenes; however, it looks out of place. Mangesh Dhakade's background score is just okay.

Nishant Bhagwat's cinematography is functional. Mitesh Zore's production design is authentic. Kirti Jangam's costumes are realistic. The use of AI is tacky. Akash Mhatre's editing is fair but could have been better in scenes involving censor cuts.

The India Story Movie Review Conclusion: On the whole, THE INDIA STORY rests on an important and hard-hitting subject, but weak writing and ineffective courtroom drama dilute its impact. It releases with negligible buzz and, therefore, stands virtually no chance of succeeding at the box office.

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