Calcutta news is a refreshing change from Blessy’s tear-jerking formula. But sadly it doesn’t quite live up to expectations and falls flat if compared to Blessy’s earlier ventures. To put it frankly, Calcutta News lacks the quality of a Kazhcha and the excellent characterization of a Thanmatra or Palunku.
The film starts off on a great note with an investigative journalist on a trail to find the secret behind a mysterious murder and his missing wife. But once the wife is found, the film turns topsy-turvy and then it is no longer investigation drama but a love story. The film shows how innocent girls from various states(here Kerala) are forced to join the flesh trade by fake marriages and other such alluring offers. Even though our heroine is also a victim of such circumstances, she somehow escapes the villains without being exploited. The director makes it a point that nothing unlikely or horrible happens to any character in the movie. So anyone watching the movie won’t connect himself/herself to the misery. As a result at the end of the film, we don’t feel any sympathy towards the agonized. Well, if the director thought of showing how cruel the situation in Kolkata is, then perhaps he must have forgotten that we already have a good idea of what is going on through media or films. To simply put it, there is nothing new. When the protagonist(a journalist) is astonished to see so many women trapped in the flesh trade, one wonders if he were so ignorant. But for such a theme, Calcutta news is a very luke-warm film and one won’t have any hesitation to watch it with family.
As for the other aspects, the placement of three songs post-interval dampens the interest of the viewer. The romance between the main leads is not as convincing either. However, Meera Jasmine excels in the role as Krishna priya and this might make you forget some negatives in the movie. Dilip also does well but his dialogue delivery in English is not as convincing. When he opens up his speech, he starts off with a sentence with flaring grammatical errors that one wonders how it happened. It is also very strange as to why black magic and psychiatry were used to solve the murder mystery. Because for a film that started so realistically suddenly adopting short cuts to solve problems is unacceptable. Finally it is not our hero but psychotic illusions that help solve a mystery.
That is not it, there are some unbelievable scenes in the movie, like the one-handed villain kidnapping the heroine towards climax(what did he do when he had killed her husband? Didn’t he have the common sense to look for her at her house? If yes, why didn’t he kidnap then?), then an MMS which forces Chief Minister to give orders in just a matter of time, and out of no where police becoming more powerful than the pimps(who till then were feared by cops) when the hero/heroine gets trapped. The pace of the movie doesn’t help either.
Now the pluses of the movie are its cinematography and performances of Meera and Innocent. Innocent excels in his role initially with some quick wits but sadly he loses his voice half way through and then on it is plain boring. Music is pleasant to ears. But unfortunately, no characters rise above the flawed script. Indrajit is wasted in a negative role.
Finally, Calcutta News poses more questions than answers and some parts have been so amateurishly handled. It is a good movie if you compare it with average ones. But when you see the name Blessy one automatically hopes for a movie which excels in all departments. It is big disappointment for Blessy’s fans. He has hurt his own expectations with this half baked product.