At first glance, Spark asks a familiar question: what happens when institutions meant to protect people become the machinery that exploits them? In a democracy, power rests on three pillars — the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Journalism, the Fourth Estate, is expected to watch all three and demand accountability when the system fails. While movies about corruption often slip into loud chest-thumping, debut director Mahantesh Handral keeps Spark grounded, using an investigative thriller framework to examine systemic greed through a devastating banking scam.
Director: Mahantesh Handral
Cast: Niranjan Sudhindra, Bhavana Menon, Prem Kumar, Rachana Inder, Dharmanna Kadur, Ramesh Indira, Abhay Vashistha, and Shubh Singh
The Amarjyothi Co-operative Bank fraud forms the film’s backbone. When the bank collapses, ordinary depositors lose their life savings. Abhiraam (Sudhindra Niranjan), an investigative journalist, refuses to stop with figureheads Ratnakar and Satyamurthy. What initially looks like bureaucratic failure gradually reveals itself to be a calculated predatory scheme running straight into the legal system.