Lucknow Central is a film that is going to evoke so many emotions inside you that you will be left at the edge of your seats just like we were.Farhan Akhtar proved his merit yet again by essaying KishanGirhotra with so much ease and perfection, that it’s unbelievable. Gippy Grewal, Rajesh Sharma, Deepak Dobriyal and InaamUlHaq were seen as his inmates, and it is because of the band of five that the film was so strongly made. Apart from the lead characters, Ronit Roy who has become the new bad guy of Bollywood was impeccable as usual as he essayed the role of Jailor Shrivastava.The story of the film is really well written and we are so glad for that.There are times when tears roll down your face at the misfortune of Kishan and then there are the other four prisoners finding solace in the confinement of the four walls is a beautiful emotion expressed like never before for human alienation and friendship.The music is delivered with a hundred percent conviction and does not feel forced at any given point.Ranjit Tiwari, the director seems to be having the power to connect with the audience and he did it exceptionally well.

Like TV show Prison Break, Lucknow Central begins on an impressive note. We meet Kishan Girhotra (Farhan Akhtar), a Moradabad guy, who wants to form his own band. This is a distant vision, but he believes small towns can’t crush a big dream. Switching accents between urban, semi-urban and rural, Farhan Akhtar somehow finds himself in the jail on the charge of murdering an IAS officer. Writers try their best to carve out believable characters. From Dobriyal’s Bengali engineer to Grewal’s disappointed lover, they find some echo with the audience, but then arrives Ronit Roy and his group of beetle-chewing cops who try hard to look menacing. Then there are the loopholes in the script. Sometimes they forget surnames, other times they wait for the opportune moment without realising it’s already gone. For example, why doesn’t Kishan run away from the Moradabad jail itself rather than waiting to be shifted to Lucknow? The screenplay is not convoluted, but it’s not coherent either. It’s too simple a narrative to capture the audience’s attention. We always know where it is heading. The finale song is a rehashed version of Monsoon Wedding’s Kaavan kaavan. It’s a letdown. The momentum of first song ‘Rangdari’ cannot be sustained by the other songs. They keep delaying the film for no apparent reason and eventually it becomes really tough to hold the attention for good 147-minutes. Thanks to Ravi Kishan and Dobriyal, Lucknow Central could bring in some humour. The support cast saves the film from going totally wayward. Lucknow Central fails to utilise its resources, especially Diana Penty, and loses out on a chance to become a really engaging film. Like Prison Break, it never reaps the benefits of a promising start.

The importance of a solid supporting cast cannot be overstated. Ranjit Tiwari's Lucknow Central, a film about prisoners who form a band - a surprisingly popular theme this season - can be called engaging only because it is populated by very good character actors. This is not a particularly well-crafted film, but actors like Veerendra Saxena, Manav Vij, Deepak Dobriyal, Rajesh Sharma and the Punjabi popstar Gippy Grewal are so credible and distinctive that, for a while, they make the film aspire to a better class of criminal cinema. Any good escape film requires detailed plotting, however, and Lucknow Central is frequently stupid. The prisoners wanting to break out, to give you just one example, stash fake police uniforms in their drum set - even though their band doesn't ever play or practice with drums. The climax is so long and unending that it feels like it's taking place in slow motion, and because these scenes are set to a musical performance in the backdrop, the scenes put us in a fresh hell where the Selfie Le Le song never bloody ends. Damn this jailhouse schlock.

This Farhan Akhtar film is just a tad better than the juvenile Qaidi Band. Here, the prison and the prisoners are not as manicured; the exchanges between the officials, especially the jail superintendent played by Ronit Roy, having a great time, never flags. Here, Grewal is the singer. So is Akhtar, who carries off some ditties in his raspy voice better than the role of a small-town UP-wala itself. It is the supporting cast which is spot on, especially Rajesh Sharma and Deepak Dobriyal. But more than anything else, it is the mawkish sentimentality which overcomes the story-telling. When will Bollywood learn the value of letting silence create drama? You don’t need to drown everything with background music: that is certainly not jailhouse rock.

Based on true life events, Lucknow Central is a feel-good, human, prison-break drama that succeeds to manipulate you emotionally, despite being predictable and filmy in portions. While the peg is somewhat similar (barring the undertrial element) to the recent Qaidi Band, Lucknow Central has a distinct execution and is way more evolved. What essentially works for LC is its classic 'winning against all odds' theme. The inmates finding a reason to live and a sense of belonging within the four walls of the Lucknow Central jail instead of their homes is what tugs at your heartstrings. Shunned as misfits and outcasts by the society including their families, the prisoners find solace in each other's company. Ranjit Tiwari handles this aspect of human alienation and friendship, beautifully. His understated sensibility resonates with his talented star cast, starting with the very impressive Ronit Roy. The actor stands out as the curt, conniving and clever jailer. Sadly, his character is reduced to being a toothless tiger eventually. Farhan ably carries the film on his shoulders but his efforts to nail his desi character are partially visible. Deepak Dobriyal is excellent as always and so are Rajesh Sharma, Inaamulhaq and Ravi Kishan. Diana Penty and Gippy Grewal play their parts well. Considering the film revolves around music, Rangdaari is a beautiful composition that sums up this fascinating tale of dreamers and fighters, who refuse to give up on life or faith.