Rann -- Film Review

NEW YORK -- A thematically ambitious drama about television news and its manipulation by corporate and political interests, and by the ever-more-desperate race for ratings, "Rann" ("Battle") has none of the Bollywood musical trappings that stateside audiences have come to expect as the default. More in the tradition, if not the execution, of Billy Wilder's "Ace in the Hole," the film waves an ominous flag indicating that whatever the deceptions, outrages and compromises that afflict American news media, it's that way that world over, including on the billion-plus subcontinent.