Lucknow Central Movie Review

Kishen(Farhan Akhtar) from a small town Moradabad in Uttar Pradesh has dreams to become an aspiring singer and make it big by having a music band of his own. One fateful day Kishen is accused of a murder which lands him in jail and eventually Lucknow Central jail where he is awaiting the court judgement of the murder case. One day an NGO worker Gayatri Kashyap(Diana Penty) is compelled to form a Band of Jail Inmates in Lucknow Central f where she come across Kishen and their paths cross each other. Kishen accepts Gayatri's offer and promises to form a band for the competition which requires three more people. He befriends four jail inmates who come from different backgrounds and have their own stories. Their names are Dikkat(Inaamulhaq), Victor(Deepak Dobriyal), Purushottam(Rajesh Sharma) and Parminder(Gippy Grewal)

The dramatic narrative of Lucknow Central portrays how Kishen’s life progresses in jail and how music not only becomes an intricate part of his journey, but for the rest of the band as well. 

The movie theme is different as it is based on a music competition of jail inmates. Just recently there was a movie directed by Habib Faisal called Qaidi Band which is also believed to be on similar lines like Lucknow Central. Movie is slow in the beginning but eventually picks up later and becomes gripping. 

The movie deals with emotions and aspirations. 

Direction of the movie by first time director Ranjit Tiwari are good. The script and the story are also good. 

Farhan,Inamulhaq,Rajesh Sharma,Deepak Dobriyal and Gippy Grewal all forming the lead cast give great performances. Diana Penty is also good. Ronit Roy is ok. 

Music of the movie is also good especially the recreated song from the movie Monsoon Wedding Kaavan Kaavan, the melodious songs Meer-E-Kaarvan and Rangdaari. The music is in sync with the movie.

Overall Lucknow Central is a good movie which should be watched for its theme and performances. 

I am going with 
***.5 stars

Bareilly Ki Barfi

Bareilly Ki Barfi revolves around a crazy family in Bareilly. The girl in the family Bitti (Kriti Sanon) is a young contemporary girl working in the electricity department and is apple of her father's eye. Bitti's mother wants to get her daughter Bitti married to a good family, but all her marriage proposals end up getting rejected. Bitti is quite heartbroken with this due to her virginity reason.and decides to run away from home. At the train station before she is about to catch a train she stumbles across this book Bareilly Ki Barfi". She is so influenced by the book because the female character described is the same as what Bitti is in real life. She decides to find out about the author Pritam Vidrohi (Rajkumar Rao) as she is in love with him and thus wants to meet him. Another character Chirag Dubey(Aayushman Khurana) is running a bookstore who owns a printing press and publishes books. Bitti though Chirag starts the search for the author and Chirag becomes her good friend. Chirag starts liking Bitti and falls in love with her. 

Will Bitti be able to find out about Pritam Vidrohi? Who is Pritam Vidrohi? Will Chirag help Bitti in finding Pritam Vidrohi? Are there any twists and turns expected? Is there a love triangle? For that you will have to watch the movie.

The movie is interesting as its is not a typical romcom as usually seen and thus the story line is also good and new. 

The actors have all done a great job in the movie. Of the performances Rajkumar Rao steals the show as Pritam Vidrohi he is too good and is an established actor. Kriti Sanon also gives a good performance as Bitti and shows she has the potential to become a future star. Aayushman Khurana as Chirag is also good. The friend of Chirag who appears to be a debutant is also good. The other supporting actors are also good. Seema Pahwa as Bitti's mother is fantastic and so is the father Pankaj Tripathi.

The music of the movie is also good. The dance number Sweety Tera Drama and Twist which are already hits are groovy. and the two melodious numbers Tu Nazam Nazam and Main Bairaagi are really good. 

Ashwini Iyer Tiwari's direction is very good and she delivers another winner after the critically acclaimed Nil Battey Sannata. The story is written by the husband Nitesh Tiwari(of Dangal fame). The movie is based on a French novel "Ingredients of the Book"

Overall Bareilly Ki Barfi is a slice of life movie and a sweet one would definitely like to have. It has a simple story and is entertaining for all age groups. Recommended
****