India Lockdown

India Lockdown (2022) : Movie Review -

Madhur Bhandarkar's India Lockdown is no different from other lockdown-based webseries and OTT original films we have seen in the last couple of years, but anyway, what a big bore it is. Madhur seems to have lost his Midas a decade ago, or maybe even before that, after he made "Fashion" (2008), his last well-made film, in my opinion. Post Jail (2009), he just couldn't deliver on his level and subsequently went lower with each passing film. This year, he had a terrible film like "Babli Bouncer," and India Lockdown is just a nice follow-up to that.

India Lockdown doesn't have a specific script like a feature film-I mean, the proper hero, heroine, love, drama, and action kind of stuff. It'sa story we all know because we all witnessed it in 2020. The film starts off in the prelude period of Lockdown 1.0. The people have just heard about the Corona virus, but they are not ready for the catastrophe, pandemic, lockdown, or whatever you want to call it. The film follows the lives of many people, divided into four parallel stories: a father-daughter duo stuck in different cities; a sex worker and her troubles; a migrant worker with bare resources; and a female pilot who begins a platonic affair with her teenage neighbour. While doing so, the writer leaves a lot of loopholes for you to dig into and raise a question: did people really behave like that?

The writing is the main fault. Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah needed no research material to cook up a nice script, but they couldn't even present the simple life issues of common people. A commercial pilot is supposed to be intelligent, but here we have the girl cracking lame jokes with senseless humour. Her teenage neighbour and his girlfriend have nothing to do with their lives but talk about losing their virginity (while the people nearby are losing their lives). The sex worker is honestly brutal about her job and money, but suddenly becomes a female messiah (don't ask how?). The migrant worker and his wife would bore you to death with their unadjusted behaviour and hunger issues, which would appeal to nobody. How are there so many flaws in a story that is based on true events and characters from recent times?

Talking about performances, the boat seems to be floating better. Shweta Basu Prasad goes overboard in a few scenes, but the rest of the time, she stands out as the best performer in this big casting unit. Prakash Belawadi finished second after her, while Sai Tamhankar came in third place despite having less screentime. Aahana Kumra looks hot and sexy, but I wish I could have said something good like this for her performance. Satvik Bhatia, Zarin Shihab, Sanand Varma, Ayeesha Aimen, and Chahat Tewani are somewhat noticeable, while Hrishita Bhatt's friendly appearance only flashes on a laptop or mobile screen.

Technically, India Lockdown is a big letdown. The screen colour suddenly changes without any reason, so it's hard to believe that we were watching a film set in the same time period. The sepia effect to Prateik Babbar and Sai Tamhankar's story, the lightly blue screen for Aahana Kumra, and the excessively dark tone to Shweta's Wadi are all unexplained. The music and background score do nothing except drag the pace further. Madhur Bhandarkar has left the film dead, just like how Lockdown left many of us uncabled. There was so much to explore from the issues and struggles of common people during the lockdown period, especially the first two months (March, April, and May in 2020), but Bhandarkar picked filmy drama elements, only to cook his so-called realistic feature film full of abuses and uncomfortable moments that you can't see with your family. Moreover, the boring screenplay and flawed storytelling take away novelty factors, leaving you with a two-hour semi-headache. Overall, a lockdown story that should be locked and chained (just like the poster) in a quarantine room as it could be harmful to sensible movie watchers.

RATING - 4/10*

Following Covid-19 pandemic worldwide, life wasn't same after government imposed lockdown nationwide in India in the beginning of 2020. The lockdown had a severe effect on the livelihoods of migrant workers and life came to almost a stand still when people were confined to their homes. The effect was adverse to completely cover in a movie.

The film focuses on a smaller social strata that were effected by the lockdown, including prostitutes, a workaholic pilot, youngsters trying to lose their virginity, an elderly man awaiting to visit his pregnant daughter, and a migrant worker. The film delves much into the world of prostitutes during lockdown, and in a way it seems Bhandarkar attempts to create more of a voyeuristic movie to lure the viewers than actually depict the plight of lockdown. However, the film achieves in depicting the hardship of migrant workers left in destitute to walk days to their villages, which appears much emotional in the screen. Overall, the film has its moments but is unable to leave the voyeuristic aspect of Bhandarkar movies, making it unsuitable to be watched with your family.

Rating: 2 stars out of 4.

The screenplay is decent. There are some entertaining scenes while some are boring and unnecessary. The movie is based on doctors life. Drama movie. The end of the movie is somewhat emotional. The movie is a complete adult movie. The movie has some dialogues which are meant for adults. Double meaning dialogues are more in this movie. Moreover, there is no bad scene in the movie. The movie has some comedy scenes. The performance of all the actors in the movie is good. Specially Prateik performance is very good. There is no music in the movie. I didn't like any of the songs. No background score. Overall one time watchable movie. The movie will be boring after the second viewing. Bad movie editing. A minimum of 10 to 15 minutes of scenes could have been cut. This movie would have been better if the unnecessary scenes were cut.

The movie was covering the story of different sections of people from different stratas of Indian society during the lockdown phase. The story is really close to the very reality. Lives of those sections are also shown by the makers who are generally ignored. Madhav's scene is deeply emotional and generates a lot of sympathy for the couple. Immediate shift of emotions happens from one scene to the next. Its a good story which has shown many things in shorter span of time. The end was also very happy.

Talking about the characters, outstanding acting by all the actors and Mehrunisa has truly stolen the show with her acting skills. Want India Lockdown 2.0 as well.

India Lockdown review :

We are probably the first (and hopefully last) generation to have experienced a disease induced country wide lockdown- something which taught us to work from/at home and made online communication a part of our everyday lives. Only this lockdown which started on the fateful evening of 24th March and extended till mid June 2020 wasn't as kind for the lower middle and labour class who lost their bread and butter...and some their lives!!

Madhur Bhandarkar, acclaimed for his realistic cinema, chooses this grim chapter which will invariably find a place in Indian history. " Bomb blasts, 26/11 aur floods mein bhi Mumbai chalta raha...yeh Corona naam ki kya musibat hai!!" goes the lament which accurately reflects the mood of that time. Indeed, the Covid lockdown was something unprecedented, harsh but highly essential as a precautionary measure.

Bhandarkar chooses to showcase all classes of the society to reflect how the covid lockdown impacted every Indian. There is a senior citizen (Prakash Belawadi) stuck in locked up Mumbai when he was about to travel to Hyderabad for his daughter's delivery. A migrant couple (Prateik Babbar- Sai Tamhankar) lose their jobs in Mumbai and have no option but to walk all the way to their hometown in Bihar. A lady pilot (Aahana Kumra) befriends her new "virgin" neighbour and they get close in this lockdown state. Lastly, a Kamathipura prostitute (Shweta Basu Prasad) runs out of business and devises a new trick to earn some grub - phone sex.

The screenplay is fast paced as well as relatable to a significant extent. The hardships faced by every strata is accurately explored by Bhandarkar without making the movie appear like a mundane documentary. His trademark flair for mixing commercial elements in to realism is evident once again. The climax where all the sub plots merge together seamlessly is also commendable.

Bhandarkar has the knack of extracting the best from his ladies and he doesn't disappoint here as well. Shweta Basu Prasad is simply outstanding, Sai Tamhankar is utterly convincing as the hapless poor migrant coping with blatant passes made at her and lastly, Aahana Kumra springs a pleasant surprise with her superlative act reminding you of the seductive Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967). I wish the film was bold enough to consumate her love...but alas!!

Prateik Babbar is another well etched character and the way he rummages through garbage for a piece of food is gut wrenching. Certain scenes create a shock value like an ambulance used by a vile corporator for sex and a well to do dude casually dismissing covid as a sham dying of the same in no time.

All in all, India Lockdown is certainly worth a one time watch. It is a near accurate account of all the breaking news we saw and read in those turbulent times when survival was more important than personal progress. Fortunately, we all lived to see a film made on it today. Cheers for that!

Regards, Sumeet Nadkarni.