Dial 100 Review: Manoj Bajpayee and Neena Gupta's Mind-Blowing Performances

Director: Rensil D’Silva

Dial 100 Review: Story, Performances & Analysis

Rensil D’Silva-directed crime thriller “Dial 100” was released on 6^th August 2021 on ZEE5 Premium.

With so many crime thrillers released these days, making things slightly tough for writers and directors to add something that the audience can differentiate the movie or web series from other thrillers.

It was raining outside heavily when Senior Police Officer Nikhil Sood (Manoj Bajpayee) arrived at the office. He received a call from his wife Prerna (Sakshi Tanwar) who started complaining about the misbehavior of their son Dhruv (Svar Kamble). His past activities were not good as he was connected to the drug peddlers and that is making Prerna worried about him more.

One of Nikhil’s junior colleagues received an emergency call. The lady was about to commit suicide and she wanted to speak to Nikhil. After getting family details of Nikhil, the conversation became more serious. She informed him about having two guns with her. She wanted to punish the people who were responsible for her pain.

Due to the sudden power cut in the office, the call got disconnected. One of the neighbors called Nikhil and informed him that their pet Rocky might be crying due to pain. Nikhil requested the neighbour to go inside his house and check if there is some problem.

Nikhil came to know from him that Prerna was not inside and Rocky was beaten by something. After sometimes he again received the call and go to know that the lady has kidnapped Prerna. Checking her background details from his colleague he came to know the kidnapper was Seema Pallav (Neena Gupta).

Why Seema was kidnapped? What was the link between Seema and Nikhil’s family? Can Nikhil save Prerna and Dhruv from Seema? Is there any twist in it? A lot more questions like these will arise as the story progresses.

The start of the crime thriller “Dial 100” was a bit slow but picked up the pace as the story progressed. Manoj Bajpayee as Nikhil the protagonist is no different from Srikant Tiwari of “The Family Man”. He is sharp, smart, and quick to take action. This man always tried to portray the character with utmost perfection.

He is best known as a method actor who impresses us with his every single performance. You may have already seen some of his remarkable performances in recently released The Family Man Season 2 & Ray.

Neena Gupta is looking like a powerhouse of talent, as her performances are getting better with age. Her character of Seema as the Antagonist deserves a lot of praise.

You may have already watched some of her noteworthy performances in Sardar Ka Grandson, Sandeep Aur Pinky Faraar, Masaba Masaba, Panchayat, Subh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan, Badhaai Ho, etc. She will be also seen in Ranveer Singh starrer movie 83 and Amitabh Bachchan-Rashmika Mandanna starrer movie Goodbye.

"Bade Achhe Lagte Hain" & "Dangal" fame Sakshi Tanwar was equally effective with her given screen presence. She was too good in especially the scenes where she fights with Nikhil about Dhruv’s misbehavior, and when she broke down in the end. She will be also seen in Akshay Kumar starring the movie Prithviraj which also stars Sonu Sood, Sanjay Dutt, and Ashutosh Rana.

The poor writing might leave you a bit disappointed. Director Rensil D’Silva deserves the credit for bringing the increasing numbers of suicides to our notice and how the young generation is falling for drugs. But he failed to add any major twists and the character development was also poor. A talented actor like Nandu Madhav was underutilized and the climax was fast-paced. The background score by Raju Singh was satisfactory.

What does this film promise to offer?

“Dial 100” is a thrilling and emotional journey consisting of a terrible past and retribution. It may feel like “A Wednesday” or “Badla”. The mind-blowing performances from the trio Manoj Bajpayee, Neena Gupta, and Sakshi Tanwar are the highlight of this movie.

Rensil D’Silva’s other directorial projects:

Kurbaan(2009)
Ungli(2014)
24(2013-2016, seasons 1&2)

Manoj Bajpayee’s upcoming movies

Kurup
Despatch

Q. Who are the cast of this film?

A. Manoj Bajpayee, Neena Gupta, and Sakshi Tanwar are in the lead cast. Svar Kamble, Nandu Madhav, Abhijeet Chavan, Vikram Bham, and Urmila Mahanta are among the supporting casts of "Dial 100".