The Networker, Review: Not-worker

This might sound funny in the days, when film sound-tracks are no more released and marketed separately, but the makers of The Networker should consider ways of marketing their back-ground score. It is constant, comprehensive and compelling. It is also loud, distracting and jarring. But does it drown the dialogue? No. How is that possible? It is, if the dialogue track is equally loud and blaring. Was the team unaware that the sound is faithfully captured on microphones, recorded, mastered and mixed, to the desired levels? Not possible. Firstly, a film is not drama, where, sometimes, one needs to project his/her voice over great distances, in the absence of microphone. Because the technical team must have gone through this process to make a final copy of the film. So, the question now is, why did someone in the Network not point out these aberrations at any preview, before the release? The copy seen at the premiere was an attack on the unwary audience’s auditory nerves. And never mind the recurring applause. That was the network applauding, boosting the morale of the cast and crew, many of who were present at the screening. So, should one watch The Networker with the sound button on ‘mute’? Try it, but it won’t help much. The Networker does not work.

Network here is a metaphor for the social ailment called Multi-Level Marketing (MLM). One misguided soul called Aditya (Adi) gets into the MLM business, and ends up losing an amount that can only be recovered from him by selling his house. He has already sold the shares he possessed, and the family has no other wealth, so he attempts suicide. His wife and mother are inconsolable. But he vows to payback the creditors within the stipulated time frame, and get his house released from them. The only way out seems to be another MLM scam, the seeds of which are sown by a tea-stall operator with an IQ that defies his lot in life. With the help of his pal Raghav, and one of the rare species that owe him money, Lallan Mian, a cow-herd, Adi gets going. Calling their new start-up Dream-Life, the three operate from a posh, new office, and a receptionist. Their investors include a man called Pradhan, who has a twin-bore rifle-toting assistant-cum-bodyguard, armed with a bullet with the name Lallan, literally, written on it, after Lallan had decamped with his investment. The enterprise yields mixed results but provers to be a learning experience. Adi’s house is saved. As for himself, Raghav and Lallan, they need to go underground.

One day, when he orders coffee in a restaurant, a robot delivers it. Adi’s mind works overtime and he decides to milk the concept of a robot. Having tasted blood, the trio agree to set-up another entrepreneurial gambit called Sky High, a company that intends providing robots, each of which costs millions of rupees. Avoiding the public eye, they recruit a new Managing Director, after a series of interviews, choosing the last man standing…er…sleeping. That interviewee, a hobo named Pradeep Biswas, who had hidden in the bathroom while the interviews were being conducted, and gone to sleep on the chairs in the air-conditioned waiting area, after they had all left. They also retain the services of a motivational speaker, Gyani, who has less than ordinary looks, to tour low income areas and extoll the virtues of the Sky High company. Seeing its profits soar, a Minister decides to make a huge investment of uned wealth, to source funds for the forthcoming election. Pradhan, who was not too happy with getting his principal back, minus the interest/profit, in the Dream Life escapade.

Written by Vikas Malik, Abhinav Pathak and director Vikas Kumar Vishwakarma (who wrote the screenplay of Non-stop Dhamaal), in the form of a tutorial on MLM and Internet start-up scams, the script is repetitive in places and monotonous in other parts. In 2025, city-bred filmgoers are not so gullible, and might find just the hint of interest in an old scam, like MLM. To a few unsuspecting small-town and district cineastes, the film might serve as a kind of warning. But those are the only positives that one can take-away from The Networker. Three scams in one film are too much to digest. Except for a few laughs, not all of which are generated by genuine good humour, most of them appearing ridiculous, the script has nothing new to offer. In one scene, a character tells another, “You often spout the ‘dohas’ (meaningful, earthy, moralising couplets) of the great simpleton saint-poet, Kabeer, so how come you do not know of this one?” and proceeds to quote a couplet written by Raheem, another poet! Raheem, real name Abdul Raheem Khaankhaanaan, was one of the nine-jewels that adorned the court of Emperor Akbar. Very often, the dialogues begin to overlap, indicating that either there has been a hell-of-a-lot of improvising during takes, or the actors are carrying with them the vestiges of the acting workshops that might have possibly been conducted before the shooting began.

Casting Vikram Kochhar in the lead, as Aditya, was a big gamble. Did they not have a budget to afford a bigger name, or were they completely convinced that the actor, gifted, no doubt, will be able to carry the film on his shoulders? Even if the latter was the case, Vishwakarma does not give him scenes in which he is really challenged. Moreover, with features like his, romancing, lip-syncing and dancing do seem to be at variance with his persona, and only his proficiency makes those scenes bearable. Obviously, the director believes in shock value, otherwise the casting of the Pradhan, the motivational speaker and the MD would be different. All three are TV personalities, and have been used quite effectively in that medium. Nevertheless, their casting in The Networker is not in keeping with the demands of the characters. To make these square pegs fit into round holes, the director has tested the suspension of disbelief among the audience. He is unable to differentiate between the hilarious and the ludicrous. Only the casting of the Fixer, possibly a brilliant ant gone astray, seems to be apt. There is little scope for the female artistes, including Adi’s mother, Raghav’s girl-friend and the company’s receptionist-cum-secretary. Everybody is over-the-top, with the actor playing Lallan Mian, Durgesh Kumar, scaling the peak, and Kochhar being the least offensive, among the lot.

You would not use the word ‘handsome’ to describe Amol Palekar, Amrish Puri, Irrfan Khan and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, would you? So also for Vikram Kochhar. His features and slightly muffled, gruff voice have never come in the way of his portrayals. And then you see a film like The Networker, and begin to doubt his choice of role. I guess the temptation to do something that is totally out of his comfort zone must have been too great to resist. Rishabh Pathak is able as Raghav. Nikhat Khan as Shanti Devi, is there because somebody had to play the mother. She is not bad at all, but what chance does she have od impressing in such a stereo-typical, small role? Brijendra Kala as Gyani would be near the bottom of the list if you were looking out for a motivational speaker. His dialogue delivery is always his weakness. Atul Srivastava as

Pradhan makes the extra effort required to of as a cold-blooded underworld financer, and almost succeeds. Durgesh Kumar as Lallan teaches you what not to do in a film…make faces and belt-out every sentence. Vedika Bhandari as Disha and Vindhya Tiwari as Ketki fill in the blanks. Ishtiyak Khan takes on Pradeep Biswas in his stride, as if to say, “I expected much better, but I will still go through these motions seamlessly. Bharatveer Singh Rathi as Bharat (the Fixer?) is most convincing.

Two persons are responsible for the sound-track, Rahul Bhatt and Kalki. Read the first two paras again for comments on their contributions. Masco Singh, as Director of Photography, fails to deliver well-crafted angles and engaging image and shadow play. Editor Deepanshu Chawla has little to play with, considering the film’s skeletal story-line, and he does well to restrict it to two hours. I do not recall any film that carried producer and director credits in the end titles twice, with shots in between. It is very modest of them to remind you that they made this film what it is. Of course, the entire credits log rolls soon after. The last shot suggest that a sequel is in the offing. On the website, Filmibeat, we read that The Networker is a series. “The Networker is a series, directed by Vikas Kumar Vishwakarma, featuring Vikram Kochhar and Rishabh Pathak in the lead roles. The series also has ing cast like Durgesh Kumar, Brijendra Kala, Vedika Bhandari, Vindhya Tiwari, Nikhat Khan, Atul Srivastava, Ishtiyak Khan and many more. The Networker is all set to hit theaters on Diwali 2025.” Well, it beat Diwali 2025 by around six months!

MLM, like chit-funds and other quick money-making scams, will continue to find victims in a country which has a large illiterate and semi-literate population, many of them living below the poverty line. But will they identify with robots, costing a crore of rupees? I think not. Had it not been for the noble message it conveys, about not falling into MLM traps, the film would have been a complete washout. To drive home this message, the film needed better credits in all departments, and engage the audience with a powerful narrative. As it stands, it does not work. And what use if Networking if it is not working?

Rating: * ½

Trailer: https://youtu.be/hJbKhr-rGcI