Review Of Movie India Lockdown

Star Cast: Prakash Belawadi, Prateik Babbar, Shweta Basu Prasad, Sai Tamhankar, Aahana Kumra, Zarin Shihab

 Director: Madhur Bhandarkar

Overview : ZEE5 original film ‘India Lockdown’ is set in the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown in the country.

Storyline : The narrative of India Lockdown attempts to revisit the harsh reality of those days through parallel-running stories of four sets of people – a young college-going couple, with a commercial pilot (Ahana Kumra) being the third cog in their story; a middle-aged grandfather-to-be (Prakash Belawadi); a migrant daily-wage-earning couple (Prateik Babbar & Sai Tamhankar); and a sex worker (Shweta Basu Prasad).

India Lockdown is also a film that trivialises the grave issues of the early days of the lockdown, by focusing on inane banalities. A young college-going couple, keen to lose their virginity to each other, cannot do so because of the lockdown. The boy, quite obviously in his late teens, is hit upon by a much older woman, she’s a commercial pilot.  Moon, the commercial pilot, openly flirts with the college kid, talks dirty with him, and comes very close to seducing him. The entire story seems sordid and sleazy. More importantly, it finds place in a narrative that claims to shed light on the horrors of the lockdown.

The story of the migrant workers walking back to their hometown resorts to sexual innuendo and attempted sexual abuse to put its point across, quite an asinine way of looking at the issue. The overwhelming hunger, fatigue and other tribulations do find a place in the story, . The rest of it centres on men casting predatory looks at the wife, calling her ‘maal’, seeking sexual favours and what not.

Story & Director Analysis : Director Madhur Bhandarkar has hit hard at certain points and At the same time, he focuses on some not-so-known aspects that might have taken place during the pandemic. For instance, the manner in which the politician roams around in an ambulance so that no one will stop his vehicle is quite amusing. Also, Madhur Bhandarkar subtly plays out the contrast in the lives of people at that time, especially between the haves and have-nots. Madhav and his family have no choice but to have rotten bananas and on the other hand, the affluent Moon is utilizing the free time in lockdown to prepare banana bread. Similarly, Nageshwar Rao is dying to meet his daughter as she’s heavily pregnant and she needs him. And on the other hand, Dev is dying to meet Palak simply because he wants to have sex with her

Performances : Shweta Basu Prasad performance is good , she has totally gotten into the character of sex worker .Prakasj Belawadi is apt for his role .Prateik Babbar and Sai Tamnakar both look every inch of immigrant worker both are impressive.

Satvik Bhatia is good but his part looks rehearsed .Aahana Kumra is wasted.Others are ok

Final Words : Though the story will take us back to lockdown period reminding some touching moments but it suffers due to poor writing ..

Rating : 2.5*/5*

Atch trailer here :