Zee Studios and Kyoorius Digital Pvt. Ltd.’s 420 IPC is a legal drama of the financial world. Bansi Keswani (Vinay Pathak) is a Chartered Accountant who lives with his wife, Pooja (Gul Panag), and son. He is trying to make both ends meet with great difficulty.
The CBI lands at his doorstep when a government official gets arrested for a financial scam. Bansi is interrogated in the case because he is the CA of the arrested official’s family members. Although he is allowed to go scot-free after interrogation, he soon gets caught in another case — this time, for theft and forgery. The person who takes him to court for these offences is his own client, Neeraj Sinha (Arif Zakaria). Arguing Bansi Keswani’s case in court is advocate Birbal Choudhary (Rohan Vinod Mehra). The public prosecutor is Savak Jamshedji (Ranvir Shorey).
Manish Gupta’s story and screenplay are not very convincing. The drama is so long-winding and convoluted that it becomes difficult for a layman to understand the intricacies involved. The problem is further compounded because the case is very technical in nature. The latter part of the drama, especially, is confusing as well as boring. Although it is a suspense drama, the screenplay is not of the kind which would have the audience involved in a guessing game — and that’s a minus point for a suspense film. Climax is below the mark. Of course, there are some good moments in the screenplay but they are few and far between. Manish Gupta’s dialogues are appropriate.
Rohan Vinod Mehra is natural and delivers an impressive performance as advocate Birbal Choudhary. Vinay Pathak does a fine job as CA Bansi Keswani. Ranvir Shorey is pretty effective as public prosecutor Savak Jamshedji. Arif Zakaria leaves a mark as Neeraj Sinha. Gul Panag does fairly well as Bansi’s wife, Pooja. Sanjay Gurbaxani is good as the judge. Mahesh Pillai provides able support as the government official involved in a financial scam. Shivraj Walvekar (as the CBI chief) and Dr. Ashish Gokhale (as the bribe-taking CBI officer) perform very ably. Shubh Kalra (as Bansi Keswani’s son) acts well. Pawan Singh (as the tiffin delivery man) and the others lend the required support.
Manish Gupta’s direction is average. His narrative style is unable to involve the viewers. Som Dasgupta and Ranjit Barot’s background music is so-so. Arvind Kannabiran and Raaj A. Chakravarti’s cinematography is nice. Production designing (by Gobinda Baidya) and art direction (by Bhavani Patel) are of a decent standard. Archit D. Rastogi’s editing is quite sharp.
On the whole, 420 IPC is not exciting or engrossing enough to be a good watching experience. It will be liked by a section of the class audience only.
Released on 17-12-’21 on Zee5.