The Broken News season two on Zee5 Global has been released, and this time it continues to expand on the characters that were built up in season one. Season one ended on a high, which set the tone for the next one, which was released on the weekend. Many characters influence the leads and guide them towards a better solution in life. The Broken News has a couple of them who take the right step, and a few take the wrong one, each charting a journey based on the choices they made.
Radha Bhargava
Shriya Pilgaonkar, as Radha Bhargava, is the epitome of someone whose values-fueled journalism is something to look up to in the first season. This television news channel is all about unbiased coverage of news, and Radha was dedicated to it until fate had other plans for her. Radha, at the end of season one, relentlessly went after Operation Umbrella to avenge the death of her friend Julia Alvares. Radha had to face the brunt, become the villain in front of the whole state, and face jail time as a result. The second season presents a different Radha, one filled with rage against the state government and its mouthpiece, Dipankar Sanyal. Radha strongly believed she had to be like him to beat him at this game. Even though she becomes an untamable beast after a point, nothing could have stopped her from going after Dipankar Sanyal, even if it meant having a broken relationship with her mentor, Amina.
Dipankar Sanyal
Dipankar Sanyal, portrayed by the supremely talented Jaideep Ahlawat, is established as the loudmouth journalist who feels the need to shout to make his news be heard while his news never has any depth. The first season of the show had Dipankar Sanyal presented as a brand that is hard to break because of his style of journalism. A man of no ethics, according to his peers, which include Radha and Amina herself, Dipankar did not care about what people thought of him as long as his segments brought in excellent TRPs. Season one had him make a mockery of Radha and her brand of journalism to the point that he called her a terrorist for speaking up against the state government.
Dipankar eventually became the voice of the government, and his career was at an all-time high. It is in the second season that he questions his conscience as it begins to come back to him in the most unusual form. Dipankar starts to question his power as a journalist and the impact he would have if he ran the channel himself instead of having a multinational company dictate to him what to do. Dipankar has begun to see the issues with Nandan and his desperate need to keep the TRPs up and hire people who have not one ounce of journalistic ethics in them. Dipankar began to calm down with Amina, who was his ex-colleague. Dipankar finally finds a way out of his growing misery, but he must pave the way carefully so that things do not fall apart like a house of cards.
Amina Qureshi
Sonali Bendre, as Amina Qureshi, is the best mentor any journalist could ask for. The first season established Amina as the opposite of Dipankar, as someone who believed in unbiased journalism and never followed the jingoistic route just for the sake of TRPs. The first season had her stepping up as the leader and standing by Radha as allegations rained down upon her, followed by her arrest.
In the second season, Amina is at the forefront of fighting against the state government for Radha. Amina is a flexible and malleable character who lets herself get adjusted to changes. She has no qualms about Nico Labs taking over, as long as they do not interfere with her editorial decisions. Amina is the only person who could witness Radha transitioning into a different person. Amina refused to interfere in Radha’s matters, as she wanted the woman to find her way on the path she had chosen for herself. Amina engrosses herself in hard-core research for a story she thought had some potential. She is excited, as this kind of ground-level journalism is what she had been missing for so long. Amina did not realize she could be falling down the rabbit hole and might end up hurting herself too badly.
Ranjeet Sabharwal
Akshay Oberoi is a new addition in season two, as is the management executive Ranjeet Sabharwal, representing Nico Labs. He joins to bring in more sales and profitability to Awaaz Bharati. Ranjeet Sabharwal, known as Ronnie to Radha, shared a romantic history with her years ago, and many years later they are back working with each other. There is no romance happening between the two, but Ronnie begins to encourage her as her rage towards Josh 24/7 has kept increasing ever since she got out of prison. Ronnie offers her to be the editor-in-chief of Awaaz Bharat Digital, an online platform of the news channel, to make her feel heard and wanted. Ronnie does not come across as a threat, but he supports Radha as she is spiraling because of her blind hatred that spews nothing but one-sided news. Ronnie hopefully should not become bad news or a mistake.
Anuj Saxena
Taaruk Raina, as Anuj Saxena, comes across as an opportunist in the first season who takes advantage of Radha and the generosity she showers on him. Dipankar too, for the first time, was seen talking about ethics when he learned Anuj stole some news from Radha. Anuj learned his lesson, but Radha noticed he was on the verge of becoming the next Dipankar Sanyal. In the current season, Anuj Saxena comes across as a young man who is willing to offer different kinds of inputs to get himself noticed.
Anuj felt he was being looked down upon by Rihana. He works harder on a story and accidentally stumbles upon a gold mine of a story, which he fortunately shares with Dipankar, who is looking for something gigantic that could make or break the careers of Anuj and Dipankar.
Nandan Balachandran
Dinkar Sharma, as Nandan Balachandran, had a brief role in the first season as someone who created the surveillance program for the home minister, who went on to become the chief minister of the state. Nandan is a millionaire who has the money, and using that, he was able to make Dipankar the stooge of his ally, the state government. Everything was going his way, until his rival company decided to purchase controlling shares in Awaaz Bharati, a company he wanted to buy and possibly merge with Josh 24/7. Suddenly, in the second season, nothing went his way, and Dipankar began to demand his share of the profits he was bringing into the channel. Nandan eventually tries to take over the editorial team, but only time will tell if he is up for the game by sidelining his star journalist.
Kamal Wadia
Faisal Rashid, also known as Kamal Wadia, is probably the sanest person in the Awaaz Bharati newsroom. He is affected by the changes in the system, but he can control his emotions and work accordingly. From seasons one to two, Kamal has been a constant in Radha’s life and always chooses to take her side in good times and bad. Despite Radha taking a different trajectory ideology-wise in the second season, it is Kama who gives her the reality check and refuses to compromise on his values as a journalist. Despite his differences with Radha, he can look ahead and work for what is right, not what the audience expects.
Pankaj Awasthi
Just like Kamal was always a part of Radha’s life, Indraneil Sengupta, as Pankaj Awasthi, was a constant in Amina’s life. Pankaj has been a married man since season one, but he and Amina have been together for a while. They were in love in season one, but they were also aware of the fact that their relationship might not have a happy ending. They broke up in the first season but chose to remain good friends and colleagues. Pankaj, however, begins to have clarity of thought about his marriage and agrees to the divorce as his wife is sure there is a lot left between him and Amina, and she wouldn’t want to be an obstacle. Pankaj loves Amina, even though the latter claims she is over him. Pankaj chooses Amina over everything and finally wants to have a happy ending for them.
