It is an entirely believable scam by a private bank. Just a day’s delay in crediting a customer’s interest amount means a negligible amount off in the statement, but multiplied by thousands of accounts earns the owner some massive crores. Ashwni Dhir’s Hisaab Barabar is a familiar underdog vs billionaire story, that believes in the fantasy of the power wielded by the common citizen, even if all evidence points to the contrary.
The owner of Do Bank, Mickey Mehta (Neil Nitin Mukesh) throws parties and dances, he also dances in his currency-filled vault, in his office and in the street. He is tripped by a maths wiz, a railway ticket checker, Radhe Mohan Sharma (R.Madhavan– passable), who notices a Rs 27.50 discrepancy in his bank statement and demands an explanation.
Before the film goes into battle zone, there’s a look at Radhe Mohan’s life. He is a single dad, with a cute son (Shaunak Duggal). During his train journeys he meets a woman (Kirti Kulhari) and they start a tentative romance – after several chai dates, he doesn’t ask her name or what she does, so that it comes as a surprise later. Also, he doesn’t remember that he had rejected her years earlier, since her marks in mathematics were poor, but she holds on to that grudge.
The matter of the small missing amount is sorted, but Radhe Mohan won’t let the issue rest—he collects more bank statements and files a complaint, bringing the full might of a corrupt system on his head. What he goes through is what is most likely to happen when an ordinary citizen butts heads with the powerful and their political connections.
His complaint is dismissed because none of the other customers want to waste time fighting over tiny amounts of money—the same people, as he observes, who would haggle with the vegetable vendor for five rupees. He is trapped in a false corruption case, his home is bulldozed, he is suspended from his job—which only hardens his resolve to bring Mehta’s evil empire down. The media, that would ordinarily have jumped on this investigative story, is mysteriously missing in action.
The plot ought to have been inspiring, but the treatment teeters between serious and needlessly comic. Mehta does not come across as a menacing figure, nor does his political cohort (Manu Rishi Chaddha). From the audience’s point of view, there is always some pleasure to be had to see a fictional villain get punished, because in real life, the big scamsters are roaming free abroad.
Directed by Ashwni Dhir
Cast: R. Madhavan, Neil Nitin Mukesh, Kirti Kulhari, Manu Rishi Chaddha and others
On Zee 5
