What Is the Story About?
Dr Prakash, an upright government officer from Medicine Authority of India (MAI), joins hands with a colleague Gursimrit and a budding journalist Noor Khan, to blow the lid off a pharma scam involving a major corporate – Forever Cure. Ashish Khanna, an employee at the pharma giant, is silenced to conceal uncomfortable truths. Who has the last laugh?
Performances?
Riteish Deshmukh, who had great fun as the English-speaking tantrik in Kakuda earlier this week, stamps his authority as a gritty, versatile performer while playing an earnest government officer, relentlessly fighting a corrupt system and a pharma giant. He is ably supported by a spirited Anshul Chauhan, his on-screen colleague, who stands by his side at every step.
Akshat Chauhan is a terrific find, perfectly cast as the lanky journalist with big dreams. The experienced hand – Pavan Malhotra – is as resolute as ever, delivering what’s expected of him and playing the bad guy everyone loves to hate. There are fine performances laying a solid solid foundation for the show – by Kunj Anand, Neha Saraf, Baharul Islam, Sanghasri Sinha, Enab Khizra and Diksha Juneja.
Analysis
Rajkumar Gupta picks up potentially dry, abstract and information-heavy stories, often based on true incidents, to provide a ring-side view of the system and dramatises them enough to lend it a cinematic appeal. After No One Killed Jessica, Raid, India’s Most Wanted, the filmmaker is back with his web debut Pill, where two government officers and a journo confront a pharma giant.
Pill is a rare show where the long-format storytelling has a firm purpose (lasting over 5 hours) and is not merely an indulgence to please the egos of an auteur or the actor. Unlike mainstream films generally based on scams, where directors sacrifice character development for plot progress, Pill takes its time to dig into the depths of the protagonist’s worlds and gives us a reason to invest in their cause.
The drama unfolds through an abandoned file about a rejected antibiotic at a dumping yard, spotted by Noor Khan. Noor has a personal reason to be curious about it – his ailing mother was prescribed the same drug in her last days. Prakash is transferred overnight to the MAI and has a colleague, a kindred spirit who shares a similar drive towards her work.
Despite its exhaustive runtime, the three major perspectives to the story revolving around a scam are obvious – of the victim who has just lost his mother, of sincere government officials going about their job and of a powerful pharma company that’ll go to any length to silence its critics. The show exposes the inner workings of the scam through its several characters who face moral dilemmas.
Across all the workspaces that Pill deals with – government offices, political parties and the pharma major – Rajkumar Gupta uses a dual approach to suggest the thin line between right and wrong. All characters are given opportunities to be lured – some take the easier route and the other choose to stay true to their conscience. Importantly, the show says there are no medals won for principles
A senior official tells Prakash – ‘you’re like the sunset latching onto the last ray of light in a world where the skies and the land belong to them (the enemies he’s fighting against).’ Prakash, Gursimrit and Noor are perilously close to giving up hope in their pursuit of unmasking a crime at various stages – there are physical and mental battles they need to get past.
The complexity of the scam is confounding – exposing the nexus among pharma companies, middlemen, doctors and corrupt bureaucrats, where life-threatening drugs are launched into the market without proper clinical trials. There’s no accountability for lost lives and the victims, belonging to marginalised groups, have nowhere to go, unable to tackle the might of a powerful opponent.
Pill, while throwing light on the dubious practices employed by pharma giants, strikes an ideal balance between the characters’ personal and professional conflicts. The show doesn’t make clownish villains and heroes out of its characters. Their actions boil down to simple choices – necessity versus greed.
The narrative, after a slow start, gains momentum with its solid drama and a flurry of twists and turns towards the end. The courtroom sequences make for pulsating viewing – there’s no pointless sensationalising and the slight hint of exaggeration is adequate to bring verve to the proceedings. The trio’s various ploys to outsmart their opponent ensure many whistle-worthy moments.
Pill is a gripping, cautionary tale that educates, informs and engages.
Music and Other Departments?
Neel Adhikari’s soundtrack becomes an invisible character throughout the show, pumping up the drama, admirably supporting the storytelling and throwing weight on the contrasting journeys of the show’s pivotal characters. The cinematography provides a unique visual texture to the theme – moving from government offices to lavish corporate workspaces to courts, narrow lanes and labs, without compromising on aesthetics.
The pacing of Pill is one of its biggest strengths – you’re well prepared for the tonal shifts, the world-building, character establishment and plot progress. As co-writers ( screenplay and dialogues), Jaideep Yadav and Raj Kumar Gupta do a commendable job with their witty lines and references.
Highlights?
Gritty storytelling
Fabulous performances
Terrific attention to detail
Sensitive and sensible
Drawbacks?
ts black-and-white outlook towards the world
The one-dimensional approach to the story
Slow to take off
Did I Enjoy It?
Yes
Will You Recommend It?
Yes
Pill Review by Binged Bureau
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