Old Monk Entertainment’s Reporting Live is a crime thriller. Sandhya Yadav (Parineeti Chopra), who works as a news reporter for a television channel, and her cameraman, Vinod Sharma (Deven Bhojani), are unrelenting when they chance upon a scam about sand mining. A bridge collapse, in which children and others are killed, ultimately leads them to the horrifying story that the collapse had happened because its foundation had eroded due to the sand mafia indulging in illegal sand-mining in the area. The sand-mining racket, they unearth, is being run by a ruthless syndicate headed by a wily man (Nasser). At first only concerned that their story should be telecast on prime time so that they would earn brownie points, Sandhya and Vinod soon realise that the story needs to be told and the syndicate needs to be exposed for reasons other than their personal victory. How they go about exposing the mafia, with help from their principled editor-in-chief, Vidur Dutt (Adil Hussain), forms the crux of the drama.
Mihir Jadhav and Dhruv Tripathi have penned a fairly engaging story which may not be novel but it, nevertheless, keeps the audience involved. The duo’s screenplay moves at a decent pace, not giving the viewers time to think or disengage. Having said that, it must be added that the writers have not been able to make a very thrilling exposé because while it touches the surface, it does not delve deep enough. Several twists and turns are too simplistic to be true. Therefore, the drama doesn’t give the audience the high which they should’ve experienced. The climax is both, exciting and thrilling.
Parineeti Chopra shines as reporter Sandhya Yadav. Deven Bhojani is extremely likeable as cameraman Vinod Sharma. Shekhar Suman is effective in the role of TV channel owner Shyam Solanki. Adil Hussain is very good as editor-in-chief Vidur Dutt. Nasser has his moments as the sand mafia syndicate head, R. Velraj. Saswata Chatterjee performs ably as JP. Amol Palekar creates a fine impression as whistleblower Shiva Kaka. Pitobash Tripathy is efficient and realistic as Mangesh. Prachee Shah Paandya performs quite well in the role of Vinod Sharma’s wife, Pooja. Geeta Agrawal Sharma lends lovely support as Shobha Deshmukh. Sameer Kochhar makes his presence felt as news reader Kartik. Akshara Ghute is cute and lends decent support as Ira. Bhaskar Jha is alright as Nasir Solkar.
Dhruv Tripathi’s direction is mature. Music (Zubin Balaporia and Vijay Prakash) is okay. Raj Shekhar and Aaditya Rawat’s lyrics are meaningful. Background music (by Zubin Balaporia and Vijay Prakash) is fairly good but ought to have been more impactful. R. Velraj’s cinematography is quite nice. Paramjeet Singh Dhillon’s action and stunt scenes are reasonably thrilling. Mandar Nagaonkar’s production designing is alright. Shyam Salgaonkar’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Reporting Live is a reasonably entertaining thriller for home viewing. It will find its fair share of takers on OTT. Of course, had it been released in cinemas, it would’ve found the going tough.
Released on 9-10-’26 on Netflix.