Zee Studios and MIG Production & Studios’ The India Story (UA) is a courtroom drama. Yogesh Patil (Shreyas Talpade) drags the government of India, farmers of India and fertiliser manufacturing foreign companies for the death of his little daughter. His daughter, Pari (Trisha Sarda), had died of cancer. Based on scientific findings, Yogesh is convinced that cancer had struck Pari at such a young age because of the pesticides that had made their way into her system through the food she ate. Distressed that our farmers were indiscriminately using harmful fertilisers, supplied by foreign companies, and because their use was permitted by the government, Yogesh makes all of them parties to the petition. The defence lawyer tries to ridicule Yogesh Patil’s advocate, Archana (Kajal Aggarwal Kitchlu), and the case itself, but the judges admit it. A courtroom battle ensues. What happens finally?
Sagar B. Shinde has written an interesting story which is thought-provoking. The story talks about how the Green Revolution after World War II had prompted our farmers to use dangerous pesticides to increase the output of crops due to the supply not keeping pace with the demand. However, Shinde’s screenplay loses steam after interval when the drama unnecessarily concentrates too heavily on the sufferings of Pari and her distraught parents. There are some heart-touching moments in the first half and even more post-interval, but the courtroom drama is not as gratifying as it should’ve been. The arguments in court would’ve worked far better for the viewers had the two advocates been involved in a game of oneupmanship. But for a good part of the court arguments, it appears as if the defence is very weak. Because of the lack of thrill in the courtroom arguments and discussions, even the climax does not afford the audience the excitement it should. And it is not clear how there is only one defence lawyer (for the fertiliser manufacturing companies) when the defendants are also the government of India and the farmers of India. Sagar B. Shinde’s dialogues are good but none of them are worthy of claps.
Before one speaks about the performances of the actors, a line about the acting in general. Most of the actors have exhibited very little variation in their acting all through the film. Shreyas Talpade is quite good as Yogesh Patil. Kajal Aggarwal Kitchlu is sincere as Archana. But neither Shreyas nor Kajal excel in their roles. Manish Wadhwa is reasonably nice in the role of advocate Saxena. Murali Sharma lends fair support as inspector general Jitendra Rathod. Atul Tiwari is nice and natural as judge Prabhakar. C.P. Thakur makes his mark as judge M. Dave. Trisha Sarda is cute and confident as Pari. Anu More (as Pari’s grandmother) and Alok Kapoor (as Pari’s grandfather) provide ordinary support. Sachin Parekh leaves a reasonable mark as Dr. Vikrant. Himanshu Manek is alright as Dr. Vilas. Vikas Shrivastav is good as advocate Deven Sharma. Kamlesh Sawant is impressive as police inspector Jangam. Ganesh Yadav has his moments as the leader of the opposition party. Pyarali Niyani (as the senior lawyer), Shyam Mashalkar (as Manik), Hardika Joshi (as Kalpana), Anil Nagarkar (as Mangesh Shitole), Shivraj Valvekar (as the agriculture minister), Mickey Makhija (as Prof. Ramakant), Deepa Mahishwari (as the principal of YC High School), Vishal Saini (as Col. Jaysingh), Libert Oliver (as Dr. Suresh), Ankita Zende (as Dr. Rekhawar) and the other actors do their parts as desired.
Chettan D.K.’s direction is average. He has not been able to make a moving courtroom drama which can afford the viewers a lot of thrill. Mangesh Dhakade’s music is quite nice. Shakeel Azmi’s lyrics are meaningful. Amit Baing’s choreography is so-so. The background music (by Mangesh Dhakade) is fair. Nishant Bhagwat’s cinematography is alright. Production designing (by Mitesh Zore) is okay. Ashish Mhatre’s editing should’ve been sharper.
On the whole, The India Story is not good enough to work at the box-office even though it tackles a unique topic.
Released on 24-7-’26 at Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay by Zee Studios. Publicity: so-so. Opening: poor. …….Also released all over. Opening was dull everywhere.