When an innocent man aspiring to be a musician is framed for committing a murder, he decides to form a music band with his co-prisoners for a competition, but his real intention seems to be different. The story is set in the backdrop of a jail, with music at its core. Walls might muffle them but cages only reverberate them louder. Situated deep in the heartland of India, within the by-lanes of Lucknow is story of a man who had something to say. Or should we say sing. I am not a professional film critic and hence will not launch into often used adjectives utilised to showcase technical knowledge of film making etc. I am from the core movie watching audience,so will use the language common to that category. <br/><br/>A gripping feel good movie that you can watch with the family. Powerful performances by all. I wonder why it has not done that well in the commercial segment in mumbai at least…according to me..its one of the best movies in the recent past. And stands tall in the crowd of recent big banner flops. I loved the sets, and the songs..Rangdhari..and the competition song with a twist. The casting so spot on! <br/><br/>Trust me, go watch this movie…your time will be well invested. Its rare fresh story for a bollywood hit movie. I hope they come out with more such surprise movies. This should have been a runway hit and a crowd puller! Lucknow Central is a film directed by Ranjit Tiwari. From the trailers itself, the film had attracted me. So I was very excited to see this film and this film impresses on various levels.<br/><br/>Plot: Kishan,who is wrongfully imprisoned, decides to escape prison with 4 inmates in the guise of forming a band for the prison.<br/><br/>Story and direction: From the very first shot, we see so much detail that is put into the film. We see how Kishan struggles to just get a CD recorded for himself and how an ardent fan of Manoj Tiwari he is (I liked Manoj Tiwari's song in the film). Then how Kishan gets disappointed because he couldn't give the CD to his idol. Also, we do get an insight to Kishan's life where he has a loving father, who supports him all the time (which is quite rare at such times and in small towns). Then we shift as to how Kishan gets imprisoned. That part looked so real. Then we shift to the Lucknow Central part. We see the CM giving orders to the IG to organize a singing competition at Lucknow Central. The kind of threat given to the IG by the CM was quite amusing. Then we see the jailer, who is cold and indifferent to prisoners and who thinks that prisoners can't be reformed. We get to see prison gangs which also looked quite real. We also get to see what family and friends go through when one gets imprisoned. And then we have the finale act of the film, that highly impressed me. But yes, the film has faults. I felt that Kishan's case wasn't given much importance. Being the main character, I felt that this part was shown with much haste. Also the NGO part. If it would have been removed, the film would have been better.<br/><br/>Music: In here we have multiple music directors, giving the soundtrack of the film. As much as I hate the idea of bringing in multiple people for music, this is one of the rare films where it works. I was surprised that I liked most of the songs of the film. 'Meer-E-Karwaan' and 'Rangdaari' were my most favorite tracks.<br/><br/>Performances: Farhan Akhtar was great as Kishan. I could connect with him in every scene of the film. Diana Penty was wasted for the good actor that she is. Deepak Dobriyal was quite good and added a good comedy element to the film. Rajesh Sharma was good. I liked Innamulhaq too. I didn't expect a nice performance from Gippy Grewal, but he impresses too. Ronit Roy was great. Ravi Kishan was also good. I liked when the makers used his signature lines in one of the scenes of the film.<br/><br/>Favorite Scene: The scene where Kishan is just about to be bullied by Parmi and Pandit sits beside him. Then slowly everyone of his friends support him. After that, they slowly bang the mugs on their tables. The scene impressed me a lot and told me that people must stand up if something wrong is happening.<br/><br/>Verdict: I see this as quite an underrated film. This film is good on various levels. Ranjit Tiwari has done an excellent job considering it is his first film.<br/><br/>I am giving it an 8/10.
Daeiaheck replied
371 weeks ago