Manoj Bajpayee shines as a cop in Dial 100 who balances his personal and professional life even in a weak plot

Mona

There is a difference between justice and revenge. But would that matter for the desperate parents of a young boy whose life was cut short in a hit and a run case?

Film: Dial 100  

Director: Rensil D’Silva

Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Neena Gupta, Sakshi Tanwar, Svar Kamble

Rating: **

That’s basically the plot for Manoj Bajpayee- header Dial 100. Neena Gupta and Sakshi Tanwar are the two mothers caught on the crossroads. Nikhil Sood is an extension of Srikant Tiwari, Bajpayee’s The Family Man persona. A cop, he’s struggling to strike a balance between his job as senior PI at Emergency Control Room and the father of a son who is a drug peddler.

A call by a distraught woman who sounds suicidal to begin with, and then threatens to kill others, engages Sood on a rainy Saturday night. As his family becomes a part of this tale, Sood tries to ensure safety of his 18-year-old son Dhruv (Svar Kamble) and wife Prerna (Sakshi Tanwar), bringing out the shades of a loving, caring father and husband.

With a run-time of 104 minutes, it’s early in the film that a viewer can put the puzzle together; and which set of parents would win this revenge war—the parents who were denied justice because the speeding youngster’s parents were powerful; or the middle class parents who harbour a drug-peddling son.

Expectations from Bajpayee are high, and he delivers. His voice, expressions, body language say it all. Neena Gupta works magic with her voice. There are fleeting moments of excellence in her performance. The script flounders, robbing its actors of their chance to give their best. While Sakshi Tanwar gives an honest try but weak characterisation makes her pain unrelatable.

The background score is ominous heightening the drama and some of the night shots of rainy Mumbai brilliant. The emergency control room looks real, and the parents’ concern over their teen son’s questionable behaviour pulls one’s heartstrings.

Streaming on Zee5.