THE WHISTLEBLOWER - V View Reviews #46

Inspired by one of the biggest education scams in the history of India, The Vyapam scam, the series The whistleblower is made. It slightly twisted the names of the characters, places and organisations for the reel story.

What is VYAPAM Scam? The Madhya Pradesh government had formed an autonomous body, the professional Examination Board or Vyavsayak Pariksha Mandal (VYAPAM), whose job was to conduct entrance tests for the educational government job in the state. But the system got corrupted. Many ineligible students got through this examination. In return, a huge amount was collected from those students by conspirators. It involved many ministers of Madhya Pradesh, their secretaries, their staff, government officials, Employees of Vyapam, staff members of college and universities, politicians, contractors etc. This malpractice was deeply rooted in the system and was going on for decades. Though the first FIR was registered in the year 2000, this horrific scam involving more than 13 competitive exams was exposed in 2013 when many who came in the way to expose the scam died under mysterious circumstances. It has been so deep-rooted that the police, the special investigation team,  the High Court, and the Supreme Court have to get to the bottom of it. 2000 arrests including the state education minister took place. There were around 50 deaths during the investigation process. Even the name of the governor of Madhya Pradesh was found to be involved.

This web series is the fictional version of this educational scam.

 The Whistle Blower opens with the visual of Dr Sanket(Ritwik Bhowmik) going on live to expose everyone involved in the education scam. He is the final year Medical student, the titular Whistleblower. Everything seems fine until one day Dr Ashwin Bhadoria, the dean of the Medical College, The Reliable and the father of Dr Sanket accepts an open challenge in a live TV debate that he would eliminate corruption in the selection process of the students in his medical college. He soon mysteriously dies. This incident triggered Dr Sanket and around him, the story revolves. In the process to find the murderer he gets entangled in the intricacies of the admission scam and how numerous politicians, Government officials, businessmen, students, their parents manipulate the exams and the system. Apart from the main plotline, there are many subplots, multiple characters, their relationship and their issues that keep the audience engaged. 

The apt music by Ketan Sodha blends with the ups and downs in the protagonist's life. Few dialogues are catchy. Writing could have been better. Too many bad words were also not required. Cinematography is amazing. The entire series has been shot in Bhopal. The editing was not up to the mark. The performance of central characters and supportive characters are praiseworthy. The protagonist of the Whistle Blower is Ritwik Bhowmik as Sanket Bhadoria. He was perfect in his role. Ravi Kishan is impactful in his negative role but at times he is repetitive. Sonali Kulkarni as a news anchor has a small role but she made her presence felt. Ankita Sharma as  Sanket's girlfriend Pragya is calm n composed and a surprise package.  Nidhi Khakhar as the younger sister of Pragya is just opposite to her sister in temperament and morality, she doesn't mind adopting shortcuts in her life, she played her role well. Sachin Khedekar as Medical College dean is reliable. Ashish Verma as a reporter is noteworthy. Bhagwan Tiwari aces his performance as a crooked cop. Suhila Thatte is authoritative as an income tax officer.

Many small characters could not be developed due to time and space limitations. The interpersonal stories of the characters are weaved to the original story that made the series lengthier and fictional.

It's an honest creation by Manoj Pillai and his team. A lot of research work has been done, so few drawbacks can be overlooked and watched at least once.

It's streaming on Sony LIV.