Lucknow Central (2017) User Reviews

Surprisingly gripping and worth a watch!

[tlrg-legend · 7/10 · 18 September 2017]

Most of the times you walk in to watch Bollywood movies with low expectations and you find to your dismay that even those low expectation are high for such movies.They are that bad.

Lucknow Express however belongs to the category which the audiences enjoy as a big group.The pleasant surprise is worth all the duds that you keep watching.

Lucknow Express has a fourth gear screenplay right from the word go. A man gets caught in a unfair murder charge and is imprisoned.He plots a brilliant escape plan but does he escape? That is the basic plot line.

The beauty of Lucknow Central of course is the way the director has built a wholesome heart warming story around this basic plot premise.

The choice of actors is super accurate , Farhan Akhtar as Kishan,Deepak Dobriyal as Victor, Inamulhaq as Dikkat, Rajesh Sharma as Purushottam and Ronit Roy as the sadist ruthless jailer are some of the stand out performances of this movie. The brilliant lines of humour and each character's own small stories are so brilliantly woven into the story that each one of those stories hit you and stay with you during the course of the movie.

Ravi Kishan as the typical CM politician has rendered a brilliant cameo in this one.

Lucknow Central has such brilliantly written eastern UP dialogues – nyay na hua pauua ho gaya thoda aur..thoda aur..!!! The biggest hallmark of a movie's success is when its drama,comedy and emotional moments make the audiences react. After a long time I sat in a theatre where the audiences were totally connected with the movie throughout.

Lucknow Express is one of the better made films of 2017 and those of you who dig different plots and what next style of story telling should make a dash for this one.

Super job Team Lucknow Central !

Good plot, great star cast but poor execution spoils the show

[sauravjoshi85 · 6/10 · 7 January 2021]

Lucknow Central is a drama movie directed by Ranjit Tiwari and stars Farhan Akthar, Diana Penty, Ronit Roy, Gippy Grewal, Deepak Dobriyal, Rajesh Sharma, Inaamulhaq and Ravi Kishen

This movie could've been an easily forgettable movie but due to some great actors and their skills the movie is atleast watchable.

The plot of the movie is fresh but after seeing the movie I can only say that the movie has only lived it's life because of the tons of talent being inducted as the movie is neither well executed nor memorable.

Acting is probably the most strongest point with Farhan Akthar portraying the role of a small town wanna be singer looking to start his own band got framed into murder which he didn't commit. Ronit Roy in his role of a tough jailor was good but considering his talent he could've better. Deepak Dobriyal in his fake bengali accent impresses. Sharma, Grewal and Kishan will effortlessly make you laugh. Diana Penty probably was either crushed under the weight of these heavyweights or was a victim of a poorly written role.

The most sad part of the movie is although being a movie on music none of the song apart from the remaked Kavaan Kavaan hadn't made any impact.

Screenplay of the movie is average and could've been made more crisp and fast paced. The length of the movie could also been trimmed by atleast 20 minutes. Climax of the movie seems to be written and completed in hurry as you will feel something is missing from the end of the movie.

The movie can be watched once and yes the movie has some engaging and cherishing movement.

Watch it for the climax

[soumithpotturi · 6/10 · 17 September 2017]

Lucknow central is a very well directed film though the storyline is very thin, the movie very quickly escalates and takes you right into it but then that is that. Next 2 hrs the movie remains with the same pace until the climax sequence again which will have you at the edge of the seat.

Pros : Direction, Farhans acting ( one man show ), music ( Meer-e Kharwaan especially), Climax.

Cons : Thin story line, needed more nail biting scenes since its about a JailBreak, too many talented artists did not get the room to do much ( Daina penty was amazing in whatever little she had, Deepak dobriyal, Rajesh sharma ) except Ronit Roy who was fab but his portrayal reminds you of all the films that he acted in till now.

You can create your identity wherever you are!

[sgupta001-817-774557 · 7/10 · 14 October 2017]

What can you do when your only crime is dreaming something big? Lucknow Central is about a jailbreak. How five jailed for life inmates come together (can't stop noticing the much clichéd - Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Isai representation here) who want to take the opportunity of an inter jail singing competition to make an escape, posing as one of the competing bands. The protagonist (played by Farhan) is the band leader, who himself once had the big dream to become a popular singer. As the story unfolds, we realize that their redemption is not in breaking free, but to earn respect, identity and finally be known by their names and not numbers.

Good direction, great dialogues, flawless characterization (Deepak Dobriyal amazes with his portrayal of a Bengali, down to even perfecting the accent which is natural and not overtly comical as most filmmakers tend to make it - the more I see of this guy, my respect for him increases), story development, and music (although noticed the GoT dada-daa--da tune once in the end :-)). As expected, another very good Farhan Akhtar movie.

7/10

Farhan spoiled the film

[gautam-moharil · 7/10 · 22 May 2019]

Farhan Akhtar is a good actor but he's one dimensional. He can only play the cool upper class dude. Asking him to play a poor guy from UP was bad casting. When your protagonist is wrongly cast, there is no saving grace left. The story was promising but the screenplay was poor. Diana Penty, Ronit Roy were good but not good enough to save this disaster of a film.

It's just a decent watch which will never throw anything special on you. It's like a poor and a short form of TV series Prison Break.

[ankitcom · 6/10 · 4 December 2017]

It's just a decent watch which will never throw anything special on you. It's like a poor and a short form of TV series Prison Break.

Storyline Rating: 2

Acting Rating: 3 Farhan Akhtar: 3 Diana Penty: 3 Ronit Roy: 3 Deepak Dobriyal: 3 Rajesh Sharma: 3 Inaamulhaq: 3 Gippy Grewal: 2

Direction Rating: 2

Music Rating: 2

Cinematography: 2

Editing: 2

Kudos, if as many people in jail do not share false personalities!

[MuviFan73 · 5/10 · 20 October 2017]

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)].

A rare find in the recent bollywood releases! Must watch!

[hrhkalways · 9/10 · 22 October 2017]

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.

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!

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!

This review contains spoilers

[ahujamoh · 6/10 · 5 November 2017]

I would suggest this movie is a blatant rip off of Prison Break, an iconic TV series but modulated to Indian Prison system. The movie being a copy of a good TV series does have a sound plot, so is this movie. I would suggest not watching this movie if you already have watched Prison Break, otherwise it is a decent watch

Get Anticipatory Bail. ♦ Grade D+

[nairtejas · 4/10 · 17 September 2017]

Director Ranjit Tiwari's debut feature film is about a bunch of jail inmates forming a music band as a cover to execute their escape plan. While it has all the regular elements of a prison film that push it to the bracket of mediocre cinema, one of the few things that sets it apart is that not much time is spent in the proceedings (which is ironical if you consider it in relation to a court).

Farhan Akhtar plays Kishan Girhotra who is accused, tried, and convicted within five minutes, which is sort of an assurance that the film's message is something else and not about political stranglehold or non-superficial corruption in the Uttar Pradesh capital. Son of a poor librarian, Girhotra had the aspiration to create a desi music band while he was free, but now that things have changed - not much to his fault - he decides to do so while behind bars. The difference, and thus the primary problem, with the film is that it is not clear if Girhotra wants freedom or considers forming a band in prison as his definition of freedom. Director Tiwari tries to provide answers at the end but falls prey to his own ambition to drive the musical drama towards a nail-biting prison escape (attempt) culmination.

Akhtar looks out of the place in the film, only throwing defective pronunciation at you to show that his character hails, in fact, from Lucknow. His (and his inmates) attires may have been thought over but do not help much in convincing their root. Having said that, he gives a decent performance as a wannabe musician. Girhotra once tries to show his work to a famous singer and ends up with a crushed CD in his hands - showcasing the hard truth about the music industry. (So, your chances of getting in is better if you were incarcerated?) Whatever may be the message of the film, having originated from a real-life story hardly adds up to the plausibility. The talented supporting cast put up a good show too, with extra points to Deepak Dobriyal, Inaamulhaq, and Rajesh Sharma who play characters that form the rest of the band. Diana Penty is the puppet that the makers use to show a sliver of romance in the film, but thankfully, never pursue it completely. A serious conversation between Penty's activist character and a police officer is supported by a funny background score - which is the best effort made at comedy, reminding us that the film should not be perceived as serious.

There is nothing novel in the film for an informed viewer to watch and appreciate. The usual prison tiffs between so-called "gangs", territory brawls, a menacing villain in the form of jail warden (a role made just for Ronit Roy), and the unexplored, impracticable escape plan. I am personally not a fan of films where a character introduces other characters - as Dobriyal's does for the other band members - because it exposes poor writing and narration. The good thing, however, is that the characters mimic other people in the film, which shows continuity and thought. For example, a police officer uses the words of the CM to reprimand one of his subordinates, and Pentry's character does the same when she utters an Orson Welles quote borrowed from a librarian.

I have already mentioned the implausibility of the plot, and one of the reasons why it affects the viewing experience so much is that the escape plan is never explored in detail. How are these people going to get out? A detail like the 15-second power generator window is not the only thing. The audience needs details and Lucknow Central chooses to keep them in the dark.

The plot further tries to humanize itself by exploring the characters instead. What prison does to the people waiting outside is one story arc, which again reinforces my point of non-novelty. Supported by a good and believable production setup, songs that gels with the theme, and performances that are watchable, the film pulls all known tricks available in the "prison movie" textbook, but fails to add freshness to the mixture.

At the end, it is clear what Girhotra wanted, but I'm not sure if I can say the same thing about the movie.

Great Prison Movie

[sheikhbr · 9/10 · 25 November 2017]

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.

There is nothing about music and action

[iipmharsh · 6/10 · 16 July 2018]

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.

Garbage Movie. You have been warned.

[DeadMan66 · 1/10 · 24 September 2017]

Very disappointed of what I thought. Who the hell will not escape, if there is 200% chance to escape.

Songs made the movie sick. Lot of songs running in the background. Don't know weather to concentrate in song or movie. No seriousness in the movie. All characters did their part as they were in hurry to finish the movie.

I was excited for the movie but what I got was huge disappointment. Thought something new story and they showed as garbage. I want my life's 2 hours back. Don't go for this crap. Not recommended at all.

It's the faith in our mission that keeps us apart, and of course the hard work

[ridi-arahan · 7/10 · 19 January 2021]

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

A Good Effort...

[namashi_1 · 6/10 · 30 January 2018]

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.

One of the worst movie I have ever seen. Stay away

[sujyajay · 1/10 · 21 January 2018]

One of the worst movie I have ever seen. Stay away

A Decent Movie

[dastag-52900 · 8/10 · 14 October 2017]

Yet another decent movie from Farhan Akhter. After the Rock On - 2 failure, Farhan back to his old self again. This movie is no doubt influenced by Shawshank and Prison Break, but it has its own storyline with some twist here and there. The movie's direction and some of the scenes could have been make much better and the climax lacked intensity. Overall, it is still decent movie to watch with your family and friends as the story is a breath of fresh air for Indian audience.

Boring!

[rheasequiera · 4/10 · 26 July 2021]

Watched this film because of Farhan Akhtar's credibility. Turned out to be boring. As much as I like Farhan Akhtar he was miscast in this film. The screenplay was a drag. Execution was average. Wasted time of 2hrs+

Lucknow Central Review

[AnishMisra · 8/10 · 25 October 2017]

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.

Plot: Kishan,who is wrongfully imprisoned, decides to escape prison with 4 inmates in the guise of forming a band for the prison.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I am giving it an 8/10.

Amazing story and execution

[imdb_girl90 · 8/10 · 29 December 2018]

Unexpected twists every moment. And a plus 1 rating for the beautiful music renditions

Masterpiece 👍

[madnankhanyzai · 10/10 · 20 February 2020]

I've never review for any movie .. But this movie deserves ....

A good film

[imranalivirani · 9/10 · 3 May 2020]

Watch it for good acting , good storyline and good songs

great musical crime thriller

[herculesthelegend · 10/10 · 21 December 2017]

Go for it if u love the reality movies. This movie shows how a decent and innocent guy gets trapped in our outdated system where police is the main culprit of destroying people lives just to save their jobs. How a person feels when he is separated by his loved ones or family members . it not only disturbs the accused life but also effects their families . how a jail term destroys many people lives. How a guy who has a lot of dreams gets convicted as a murderer of a bureaucrate . and after that how he creates a band in the jail is all very interesting . very emotional movie throughout and changes your outlook towards many actors. Farhan akhtar acted well . songs are awesome and according to the need of story everyone acted very well. All actors acted well. Direction was also good and execution of the story is fine . great screenplay . no nudity at all no alcohol promotion . this movie deserved to be a great hit . worth watching and worth a 10 on IMDb .

Zeal is everything

[pankajchoudhary-49647 · 10/10 · 15 October 2021]

I never saw a movie like this. It's a very good and inspirational movie for those who are willing to do something. I saw a seen in which farhan wishes to get back for their performance in front of CM. There is no comparison for that seen. I loved this movie. Everyone must watch it.

Beautiful film and lively music

[anwitamishrac · 10/10 · 6 March 2023]

This film really has it all, ups, downs and a major reason to watch it for me, was Farhan Akhtar. How beautifully he has acted in this film. All in all the story too is real and lovely, inspiring at the same time. MUSIC CANNOT BE CAGED, DREAMS CANNOT BE CAGED!

Personal high was Kaavan Kaavan song, the last song performed by the band. The musical score is perfect as it should be, after all it is a musical film, Actors, directors have done a lovely job on this one. Cant get over the music, the friendship and the screenplay of the whole film. Farhan plays really well the nuanced character of Kishan Mohan Girhotra. Set in Lucknow, a place close to my roots, Farhan has beautifully adapted to being a lucknowi boy.