The Broken News Season 1 ended with Radha Bhargava going to jail for accessing confidential files about Operation Umbrella and exposing them to the public. Dipankar Sanyal openly branded her a terrorist, and this led to her arrest, which she wholeheartedly contested and vowed to fight the injustice done to her. The Broken News is all about the world of television news media, where everyone is crazy about getting TRPs for their respective organizations. The show mirrors real-life instances many have not seen on live television and fictionalized all of them to show audiences the reality.
Spoilers Ahead
What did Dipankar want?
Season two begins with Kamal covering the death of Radha Bhargava and claiming she was killed by the system. Months before the incident, Dipankar Sanyal visited Radha in prison to make her sign the apology letter that would fast-track her bail application. Radha refused to sign it. However, Dipankar Sanyal was on a spree and kept talking about the advantages of Operation Umbrella. His task was to gather the support of his audience, which would push the MLAs in the assembly to pass the bill in favor of the surveillance program. Since Dipankar had done his job, he expected a 51% stake in Josh 24/7 to make it his independent organization, which Nandan was not in favor of. Dipankar was surprised to hear from Nandan that his competitor company had purchased major shares in Awaaz Bharati.
Who gave Radha bail?
Radha was in prison for four months, and Amina Qureshi did everything she could to put pressure on the state government to get her bail. Radha had turned bitter, but she finally got her bail. Nico Labs, the new owners of the channel, arranged for the bail money. Ranjit Sabharwal was the person representing Nico Labs at Awaaz Bharati, and he claimed he would never interfere in the editorial decisions as he would be responsible for profitability.
What was Radha planning for Awaaz Bharati?
Radha met the opposition minister, Pramod Parchure and discussed the idea of bringing down the CM and Dipankar Sanyal in the same way he decimated her and threw her in jail. She wanted revenge for her time in jail and wanted Amina to understand her rage. Radha wanted to use Awaaz Bharati to start a smear campaign against Dipankar and the CM. Amina, on the other hand, wanted to follow the unbiased news route but Radha wanted to influence the public and social media and turn the tide to their side. This caused some friction between the two.
Was Dipankar having issues with Josh 24/7?
Dipankar, just like in season one, believed in making stories out of real news instead of going the other way around. The story of a superstar’s son involved in the suicide of a young influencer helped the channel be at the forefront, but Dipankar’s concern was the lack of research by the newbie Rihana.
Why were Amina and Radha not communicating anymore?
Ranjit Sabharwal, aka Ronnie, in the Awaaz Bharati office was trying to hear Radha’s concerns about Amina’s journalism style. He launched a digital platform known as Awaaz Bharati Digital that would be headed by Radha, and she would run stories based on her style while Amina could carry on her brand of journalism on the television channel.
Radha and Amina were clearly on two different sides of the spectrum, and the team could see the cracks appearing. Radha’s Awaaz Bharati Digital was only targeting the Chief Minister, Nandan Balakrishnan, and Dipankar Sanyal, and it began to disturb the sanctity of the organization. Amina and Radha eventually stopped sharing the stories they were working on to avoid any conflict in the editorial meeting, and Ronnie did nothing to bridge the gap between the two.
What story was Amina working on?
Amina was approached by the wife of a government geologist, Dr. Nikhil Palekar, and she claimed her husband did not commit suicide, thought that was the official cause of death as per the records. Amina headed to Beed, a village in rural Maharashtra where Dr. Nikhil was found dead, to find out about the project he was working on. She got her hands on the report Dr. Nikhil had gathered and got it cross-checked by another geologist who claimed the conclusions in it were wrong. The paper in her hand suggested Beed had superfluous deposits of lithium. The said geologist asked Amina to cross-check the report with Dr. Nikhil’s junior on the project, Dr. Mansoor Alam, who will provide her clarity on what went down in Beed.
What story was Dipankar working on?
Anuj Saxena, unlike Rihana, was working on the influencer suicide story to find out more about the cause and culprit. During his research through the dark web, he got in touch with an anonymous account named ‘Somynona’ who had all the information about Anuj. Anuj was informed that Operation Umbrella had been hacked, and she shared the news with Dipankar. The man who championed this surveillance program was shocked to learn of the breach, but he wanted more information about the hack before using it against Nandan Balakrishnan. Dipankar asked Anuj to work on this story discreetly.
Did Radha cross the line during the broadcast?
Radha went overboard with her brand-new journalistic style. In her pursuit to defame the CM, Nandan, and Dipankar, she forgot to do basic research on stories before airing them. Radha also exposed the source of a story she was airing without his permission. This move by Radha began to bother her team, and they were questioning the reason behind her erratic nature on camera. Radha also went live drunk, which was noticed by Amina and her team. Ronnie was in no mood to fire her, as he was manipulating her into making rash decisions that were benefiting Awaaz Bharati Digital.
What happened to Amina?
Amina was quick to find out that Dr. Mansoor Alam, a not-so-highly paid government geologist, was living lavishly. Dr. Mansoor claimed the report gathered by him and Dr. Nikhil was false as the machines used were faulty. These tests done after Dr. Nikhil’s passing showed the soil samples were basic and had nothing new to offer. Amina found out that Dr. Mansoor Alam was lying, and she confronted him, but he claimed he did not kill Dr. Nikhil. This conversation was heard by his daughter Zeba. Amina, on her way back from Delhi, rang up Radha and Pankaj, her erstwhile colleagues, as she had some important things to share on landing. Radha and Pankaj were shocked to learn Amina died on the flight.
What was Radha’s plan to avenge Amina?
Radha was shocked to see Dipankar in the hospital and to know Amina had called him as well from Delhi. Radha was spiraling because of Amina’s sudden passing. Radha’s colleague and close friend Kamal could not help but wonder if the heart attack was induced. Pankaj, Amina’s partner, revealed she was working on a story out of Beed, investigating the death of government geologist Dr. Nikhil. Kamal came to know Amina had visited Delhi twice to meet Mansoor Alam. The said person and his daughter had left the city and were nowhere to be found. On further research, Radha found the man in the CCTV footage of a liquor store in Beed during Dr. Nikhil’s stay; he was seen next to Amina as well on her last flight to Mumbai, and they assumed the same person could be the killer. Amina’s laptop bag and phone were not found, and a man was seen disposing of them. Zeba, Dr. Mansoor’s daughter, eventually came forward to reveal the truth behind her father’s involvement in Amina’s death.
What is Dipankar’s plan?
Dipankar was rattled by Amina’s death, and he wanted to air coverage of her death, but Nandan Balachandran had new plans for the editorial team. Pankaj Parchure, the opposition leader, was gaining traction for claiming the state CM and his allies were behind the death of Amina Quresh. This proclamation made Nandan anxious, and the former took over Dipankar’s job against the journalist’s wishes. Nandan wanted Rihana to take over the coverage of Amina’s death. Dipankar was in desperate need of the Operation Umbrella hack story, and Anuj got him in touch with the source, Somynona.
Somynona revealed Operation Umbrella was hacked by the Anonymous Hackers Collective and had sold the data to foreign countries and terrorist organizations, and Nandan Balachandran was aware of the hack but could not break the news about it. Somynona hacked into the Anonymous Hackers Collective to get access to the data. Nandan and the CM would be in trouble if the news of the hack was leaked. The whole idea of selling Operation Umbrella to the public was to protect the country from anti-national activities. The Chief Minister would lose the election, and Nandan would be in prison in no time.
Dipankar planned to use this bombshell of information to get control of Josh 24/7, as he had asked at the beginning of the show. Dipankar was done working as the stooge of the CM and Nandan and wanted to go back to being a journalist who believed in getting real news to the public. Dipankar might be shaken after Amina’s death and the way his channel insensitively handled the coverage. This made him go after Nandan and demand his share.
What did Radha find out?
Radha revealed Zeba’s confession to Ronnie about her father’s role in Amina’s death. Amina was researching Dr. Nikhil Palekar’s death and found out Dr. Mansoor Alam stole his data on lithium-heavy soil found in Beed. Zeba claims the report was sold to a private company for two million dollars. Radha was aware it was Ronnie’s employer who made this deal with Dr. Mansoor, and he knew Amina was their target. Nico Labs made a deal with the opposition party, which promised to give them full control of lithium extraction, and in return, they gave him funding through crypto. Ronnie let it happen for the sake of his company’s profit. This proves that the opposition was as corrupt as the government elected.
Radha was affected by the fact that she was blindly following Ronnie and Pramod Parchure, the opposition leader, when Amina had asked her to remain unbiased. Radha was overwhelmed by the wave of information hitting her, and she had to do something to make sure Amina’s death did not go in vain. This news jolted her out of her manic phase, and she wanted to do something to save Awaaz Bharati from going the Josh 24/7 way. She contacted Dipankar and asked him to meet at a bus stop to share all the information she had about Nico Lab. Radha had been aware Amina trusted Dipankar, which is why she contacted him as well with this report. Radha now knew Dipankar had some values in him, and he would help her break the Nicolab story. She was shocked to find a gunman in the bus who was hired to kill her.
What Happens To Radha Bhargava?
Radha was dead, and Kamal began to do the live coverage from the hospital. Dipankar, on the other hand, was fired from his job, and his position was given to Rihana. It was initially assumed that it was Dipankar who had gotten Radha killed. The news of her death spread across news channels, with the narrative started by the opposition leader that it was the CMO who killed Radha and Amina. Dr. Mansoor Alam was taken away by a group, and by the time Ronnie’s men could reach him, the geologist had disappeared. Rihana and Meghna were fired from Josh 24/7 as they saw Radha walking in with Dipankar for an explosive interview.
Radha had shared the news of Amina’s killer with Dipankar in the hope he would be able to save Awaaz Bharati and make sure Ronnie never left the country. The news was explosive, and they had to make sure this was handled with care instead of being hasty about it. Dipankar shared this news with Nandan and hoped Radha to give him an exclusive. In return, he would remain tight-lipped about the hacked Operation Umbrella, and he would want a 51% stake in the company. This was a win-win for Dipankar, as he had everything in his basket. He wanted to make sure this plan was executed with finesse so that Ronnie would make a mistake after knowing Radha was dead. Radha had involved her team at Awaaz Bharati to lure Ronnie into believing her death had been planned by the CMO. Watching Radha on Josh 24/7 with Dipankar led to Ronnie’s arrest. His arrest was as per the details Zeba had shared with Radha and Dr. Mansoor Alam. The person who was killed on the bus was the shooter, whilst surrounded by policemen. There was a probability that the state CM helped Nandan so that the story about the opposition would come out.
Radha shared the explosive news that exposed the opposition leader, Ranjeet, and it served the state CM the biggest meal on a platter. The deal between Nandan and Dipankar was not presented well, but it is assumed the millionaire wanted to save his face and bowed down to Dipankar’s demands. Dipankar removed Meghna and Rihana because he wanted a team that would follow his ideals and values instead of someone who would run behind TRP. With Nandan hopefully gone, Dipankar could mentor many young minds. Dipankar had been waiting for this moment, and this interview made him a hero as well, the kind of journalist Amina would look up to. Both probably did it for her, not some political stooge.
The Broken News season 2 ended with Dipankar and Radha sharing a moment from the day. He revealed the Operation Umbrella hack and his getting possession of Josh 24/7. It was assumed both could work with each other in the future, or Radha may go back to Awaaz Bharati with a possibly new owner, or it might become a sister news channel to Josh 24/7, run by Radha Bhargava. It seemed Dipankar would not give up on the Operation Umbrella story, as it was in the public interest to know about the consequences of the hack that happened.
