When two films on a similar theme release within a month, the second one usually suffers. However, if the first film is a terrible experience, the other may surprise you. So Lucknow Central excels in the aspects where Qaidi Band failed miserably. Lucknow Central is the story of Kishan Girhotra (Akhtar), wrongly implicated in the murder of a civil servant. Kishan cherishes the dream of being a singer and forming a musical band. In the Lucknow jail, he gets an opportunity to form a band with four men — Parminder Singh (Grewal), Victor Chattopadhyay (Dobriyal), Purushottam Pandit (Sharma) and Dikkat Ansari (Inaamulhaq).
(Image: Facebook/Lucknow Central)
The band is slated to perform at the Independence Day celebrations before chief minister Pawan Chaturvedi (Kissen). But there is a larger goal for Kishen and his men — they want to escape the prison. But the jailor (Roy) is vigilant. As Kishen and his men face their challenges, the prison escape seems smaller than a new goal which instils vigour in them.
Akhtar is decent as a small-town budding singer and the other four band members are brilliant in their roles. Each of them efficiently portrays his helplessness and a resigned outlook at his state of affairs. The only flaw the film suffers from is a weak plot. This is a prison break story, but the narrative is dull and doesn’t keep you on the edge of your seat. Still, at the end of it, Lucknow Central is an engaging watch.
