The film starts off with a day in the life of the Moradabad based Kishan Mohan Girhotra (Farhan Akhtar). In order to achieve his dream of forming a band, he even records a demo CD in order to hand it over to a topmost singer (played by Manoj Tiwari, in a cameo), but, his efforts go in total vain. One day, out of the blue, cops arrest him and put him in Lucknow Central jail on the charges of murdering an IAS officer. Even in the jail, the restless Kishan yearns of forming his own band. On the occasion of Independence Day, Minister Pawan Singh Chaturvedi (Ravi Kishan) decides to have an inter-jail music competition.
Even though Kishan faces stiff opposition and resistance from Raja Shrivastava (Ronit Roy), help and confidence come in the form of NGO activist Gayatri Kashyap (Diana Penty). The inmates who form Kishan’s band members include Parminder Gill (Gippy Grewal), Victor Chattopadhyay (Deepak Dobriyal), Purushottam Madan Pandit (Rajesh Sharma) and Dikkat Ansari (Inaamulhaq). It is during the band’s practice that Kishan reveals the master plan of doing a jailbreak on the D-Day. But, when the moment arrives, all of them back out. What’s the reason for them to refuse freedom, do they get caught by the ruthless Raja Shrivastav or do they have a change of heart and what ultimately happens to their band and their lives is what forms the rest of the film.
Farhan Akhtar. The name says it all. Even though his performance in Lucknow Central may not be in the same orbit as his earlier classics like Bhaag Milkha Bhaag and likes, the fact also remains that you just cannot just take your eyes off from his character even for a single moment. The feebleness that he exudes as a financially crippled aspiring singer, his anxiousness when he tries to hand over a demo CD to Manoj Tiwari, his helplessness in the jail which is followed by a spark in his eyes when he realises his dream of forming a band, Farhan Akhtar own the film like a king. Giving him ample support are the awesome foursome Gippy Grewal, Deepak Dobriyal, Rajesh Sharma and Inaamulhaq, who have their moments of fame under the sun.
Diana Penty, on the other hand, is super confident in her role of an NGO activist. Her confrontations with Ronit Roy are really well shot. Speaking of Ronit Roy, even though he looks convincingly menacing, one cannot deny the fact that we have seen him doing the same kind of roles in many films before. Ravi Kishan as the ‘supercool cum calm minded cum sarcastic’ minister is really lovable and remarkable. Rest of the actors help the film move forward.
Watch Lucknow Central for its innovative script and screenplay. The movie will work, but, only if the word of mouth publicity is extremely strong. Still, the film is recommended by us purely for its innovative script and stellar performances by the lead actors.
Rating: 8/10