Idam Jagath Review: A botched rip-off

Idam Jagath seems to be agonisingly “inspired” from Dan Gilroy’s Nightcrawler, as was clear from the its trailer. The film picks up the premise of the American film, but struggles to fit it into the mould of a typical Telugu action drama, with rich bratty kids, politicians, a drug mafia, corrupt police officers, and even a romance.

Cast: Sumanth, Anju Kurian   

Director: Anil Srikantam

Nishith (Sumanth), suffers from something called Delayed Sleep Phase Disorder, because of which he is unable to find a job. Nishith, whose name not-so-subtly means 'night', stumbles upon a job that pays more than he can ask for as a 'night reporter'. He understands that in the TRP business, more the drama, more the tragedy he can capture, the more he gets paid. He takes to manipulating crime and accident scenes for the perfect shot. One night, he happens to witness a murder which he captures, but only gives away the footage of the dead body claiming that the victim was already dead when he stumbled on the scene. How this spirals into a lot more than he bargained for is the rest of the film. 

While the first half is the set up for the actual story, you are already bored of Nishith’s smug attitude. And of course, there is a love interest. As it would happen, his beloved’s only deal-breaker is anyone working the night-shift. So, Nishith does what any decent person would do and comes clean... Just kidding! He lies to her about his job and disease, obviously. The second half spirals down as Nishith tries to find out who was behind the murder. And the film thus goes in circles. It looks as though the director thinks he’s being supremely clear about where this was all going, but it never comes through. You don’t get why anyone is doing what they are doing.   

Meanwhile, Nishith’s entire life is based on money. For him, money is all that matters and as long as he isn’t the one pulling the trigger, he has no remorse in even using a colleague as a human shield. By the end, we are confused whether Nishith is supposed to be a do-gooder or just a sociopath cashing in on everyone’s misery. He delivers a series of monologues using buzzwords like “manchi” and “chedu” to justify his actions. The film struggles to convince the audience that the hero is still a hero despite his questionable morals.

On the technical front, there isn’t much to say. The screenplay is convoluted and the plot has holes big enough to fit in a reworked script. The lead actors seem to be straining to be at ease before the camera. Though the song placing is erratic, they do come as a breath of fresh air. However, the music can’t salvage this poor film.

Bottom line: Watch Nightcrawler instead.