The makers of Crime Beat cannot entirely be blamed for their compulsively conspiratorial depiction of investigative journalism. The source of Crime Beat is a former reporter.
The ZEE5 series directed by Sudhir Mishra and Sanjeev Kaul is based on Somnath Batabyal’s 2013 novel The Price You Pay. Kaul’s adaptation fans a belief about the media popularised by one of its most celebrated practitioners: hammam mein sab nange hain. Everyone is on the take.
New Delhi, 2011. We’re in the good old days when the headlines are hogged by corruption, rather than censorship or the steady erosion of civil liberties.
Reporter Abhishek (Saqib Saleem) is obsessed with being on the front page, whatever the modus operandi. His quest lands him at the venerated English-language Express newspaper, whose chief editor Amir (Danish Husain) is initially leery of Abhishek’s capabilities. Abhishek finds an ally in seasoned photographer Pashupati (Kishor Kadam) and an attractive competitor in his colleague Maya (Saba Azad).
The whereabouts of the kidnapper Binny (Rahul Bhat) and his accomplice Archana (Sai Tamhankar) promises to be a career-making scoop. In addition to Abhishek, minister Rawat (Vipin Sharma), top cop Uday (Rajesh Tailang) and Uday’s deputy Mayank (Adinath Kothare) are hot on Binny’s trail.
Abhishek’s methods are dodgy. Amir isn’t exactly a pillar of rectitude, while also mangling his English. Binny has an ulterior motive. The cops and politicians are double-dealing.
Nearly all major characters have conveniently crisscrossing back stories, creating momentum, if not quite freshness, over eight episodes.
Too pulpy to be plausible as an expose of how exposes are created, Crime Beat benefits from sharp character sketching and a bunch of solid performances. Saqib Saleem passes off credibly as a fundamentally honest, somewhat deluded reporter. While Abhishek is hardly a role model for aspiring journalists, Saleem puts on a good show as a driven professional who comes close to forgetting his true purpose.
Danish Husain has a jolly good time flouncing out of edit meetings in disgust at the quality of reportage. There is potential for Amir to be a stereotype, what with all the “Fucking vultures yaar!” and “Get me some great fucking stories!” Husain plays Amir with dignity, smoothness and a touch of mischief.
There are solid turns too from Kishor Kadam, as a beleaguered photographer whose images are never displayed properly and Saba Azad, as a lifestyle reporter who wants to be taken seriously. While the plot often beggars belief, at least some of the key players behave in ways that are convincing – until they are revealed to be duplicitous.
