Lucknow Central

Inspired from true life events, 'Lucknow Central' is at times a sad, and at times, an uplifting story about living your passion even in the worst stage of life. Directed with honesty by Ranjit Tiwari & winningly acted by its cast, this 2017 flop is actually a good effort that went unnoitced.

'Lucknow Central' Synopsis: Kishan (Farhan Akhtar) is wrongfully imprisoned for a murder he didn't commit & is sent to the Lucknow Central, a dreaded jail. While in prison, he forms a musical band with 4 other inmates, that changes his life forever.

'Lucknow Central', though flawed thanks to its erratic pace, is still an effort that isn't easy to snub. The characters appear real, as does their pain & eventual unity. There is a sense of genuine feeling here. That being said, the pacing plays a spoilsport. The film lacks consistency & the wobbly pace is to be blamed.

Ranjit Tiwari & Aseem Arora's Screenplay is decent, but its impact would've been a lot more had it more crisper & well-paced. Ranjit Tiwari's Direction is satisfactory. Cinematography is good. Editing isn't tight enough. Art & Costume Design are appropriate. The Music offers a few good tunes.

Performance-Wise: Farhan Akhtar does a sincere job. But its Deepak Dobriyal who scores. He's brilliant. Gippy Grewal, Inaamulhaq & Rajesh Sharma lend able support. Ronit Roy is repeating himself. Diana Penty is nice. Ravi Kissen is very entertaining as the slimy minister.

On the whole, 'Lucknow Central' is far from perfect, but its not without its pluses nonetheless.

You can call it a bromance, comedy, musical or whatever but its a prison movie at the end of the day. Almost the whole movie takes place in one setting. There are very few prison movies made and for a good reason, they are very hard to pull off. It's no Shawshank Redemption but for an Indian movie, it was extremely well made and executed. One of my favorite Indian movies now.

Music is great and goes really well with the plot. Not sure if it's songs you'll listen to outside of the movie but in the movie they work brilliantly. I've found myself on YouTube a few times watching the songs again.

Prison movies usually don't have a lot of characters so you have to make them count. Ronit Roy is not doing the usual. Even though he's played a cop/hard-ass a few times, this one was very well played. Not the clichéd part some are describing it as. The scene where his wife calls him is great and very telling. Pay attention to the details. He definitely enhances the movie. The rest of the cast is great too. You'll recognize some faces even if you don't know the names, other than Farhan. Farhan and Deepak especially stand out. Deepak is always great in the few movies I've seen him in.

A must watch in my opinion if you appreciate Indian cinema. This one is a really under-appreciated movie and I think it'll build a fan base over time due to Netflix, etc.

What worked: The movie, based on a true incident, makes its impact with its narrative especially with the overall impact at the end of the movie. The movie is light hearted, engaging and enjoyable watch if you keep the brain at rest and just go with the flow of the movie and the story the makers are trying to tell. The cast is great,Ronit Roy and Diana Penty standing out amongst the casts. What did not work: The movie could have been much better in every aspect, primarily in the screenplay. The movie lacks depth of characters, fails to deliver the intent of the movie most of the part of the movie, lacks the creativity that we expect from a thriller, lacks the strong ending though the movie concludes on a happy note. Overall the movie is a tale, a superficial storytelling of the characters and their story at a surface level, but also telling the story keeping the mass pleased. Final verdict: watch it when you are free but not when you are eager to watch a good cinema

He wants to be the part the band no music and rock shown in the movie it's about Lucknow jail and prison break but at the end it's fully bollywood movie and being a good man.

Tone, Script & Story: It is shown as the movie ends that the story is inspired from true events. It would have been better if the same was conveyed along with the trailer as biographies have their own audience. The story is how an innocent man is convicted of murder of IAS officer, gets jail term, and plans jail escape by forming music band. The further story is if they escape or not and or what term he gets.

I don't know if life in jail is shown well. A person in grip of crime has life of false person. A NGO coming in showing faith providing path to jail members to redeem themselves and getting not one or two but five of them seems abrupt. Here's where story falls week.

Direction, Screenplay, Cinematography: Ranjit Tiwari shines in his maiden attempt as a director. Screenplay is relaxing, when convicts are made to play music instruments and are left on pay role, everywhere else screenplay goes well with the story (example life in jail). Cinematography was also good.

Music: Music is good. I personally liked the track Rangdaari.

Acting: Acting was good by most of the actors. All actors who do not act in non sense cinema have done well here in this movie as well.

Final Verdict: It is worth a watch [(2/5) (7/10)].