Lantrani Movie Review: Johnny Lever & Jitendra Kumar Demand & Deserve Your 1.30 Hours Rightfully, Stop Everything Today To Watch This Beautiful Effort At Social Satires

February 10, 2024

168 6 minutes read

Lantrani Movie Review Rating:

Star Cast: Johnny Lever, Jisshu Sengupta, Boloram Das, Jitendra Kumar, Nimisha Sajayan

Director: Kaushik Ganguly, Bhaskar Hazarika, Gurvinder Singh

Lantrani Movie Review Out ( Photo Credit – IMDb )

What’s Good: The ‘mitti ki khushboo’ from the rural stories comes straight out of a simplistic tell-a-tale format that will leave you as content as a heartfelt conversation.

What’s Bad: Probably the befikri at certain points or getting carried away to keep it too simple.

Loo Break: It’s your digital space, but be assured, you would not want to have any break while watching this one.

Watch or Not?: A definitive, Yes!

Language: Hindi

Available On: Zee5

Runtime: 162 Minutes

User Rating:

Anthology films were a breakout during the time when the world was shut down. For those who have come late, anthologies hit a peak and a saturation point during the pandemic, where every other film was a bouquet of short films on OTT. But guess what is good and bad about such films? The good part is you can skip the bad part. The bad part is you feel cheated to be sold a mix of good and bad. Which category does Lantrani, which is also a bouquet of three stories, fall? Well, we would say, stay with us and you’ll be surprised.

The film was low on buzz, so we decided to skip it. But, sometimes, the best of the things are offered in such simplistic ways that you might make a blunder by skipping them. Something we were about to do. But this film needs your time and deserves your attention for two basic reasons – A. for being a simple set of stories and B. for being realistic.

Lantrani Movie Review Out ( Photo Credit – ZEE5 / YouTube )

Lantrani Movie Review: Script Analysis

Durgesh Singh of Gullak fame decided to write three stories about life. As real as they could get and as believable as they could get. The three stories have one thing in common – The common man. The issues faced by the common, the behavioral pattern of the common man, the efforts of the common man, and the resolutions of the common man.

There are three films in Lantrani. The first film stars Johnny Lever and Jisshu Sengupta and is titled Hud Hud Dabangg. Johnny plays an underachiever cop whose day turns into the biggest achievement when his officer gives him a gun and a bullet along with a responsibility to head the local police station, and every other policeman in the city is busy protecting Madhuri Dixit, the guest of the town.

So, does the day in the life of this underdog turn his biggest achievement in the true sense while he is handed over the responsibility of presenting a criminal from the lock-up – Jisshu Sengupta in the court? Are criminal and Kanoon allowed to share a bond? The film offers an insight.

The second story is a satire straight out of some theatre stage decided to be shot in an instant. Titled Sanitized Samachar, this film led by Boloram Das is a little weak when it gets compared to the first one, but if efforts could be made, then this one needs to get a meddle for putting up a show without getting preachy. The film is about a team of hustlers who are trying to save their news channel at any cost, even at the cost of producing a paid bulletin. At the time when the pandemic shut the world down, these groups of people running a local channel are trying everything in their capacity. But isn’t that all of us were doing and are doing? Saving our jobs at any cost, at any given point in time. Why judge them, then? Do they manage to save it, and at what cost is what forms the essence of the narrative?

Lantrani Movie Review Out(Photo Credit –Instagram)

The final story, led by Jitendra Kumar, Rajesh Awasthi, and Nimisha Sajayan, is titled Dharna Mana Hai. A low caste woman, turning into a Sarpanch and demanding her rights in a village with upcasts, decides to sit on dharna in from of the District Development Office Of Beripur. Who is the anchor of her strength? Her husband is played by the phenomenal Jitendra Kumar. The story works in parts, and there are a few misses, but it works in a satire that leaves you smiling at their grit and determination at the end.

Lantrani Movie Review: Star Performance

We’ll discuss the performances in a sequence of the films that appear. Starting with Hud Hud Dabangg, ever thought Johnny Lever might make you want to watch him more in serious conversations? This film would surely do so. He starts with his known palette of playing an underachiever and probably a man one can laugh at. But he switches gears so beautifully that you would want to raise a toast to him for such finesse and for making us remember what a brilliant performer he is!

Jisshu Sengupta, surprisingly, might have 3 – 4 dialogues in the film, but he proves why a man of his caliber doesn’t need a set of written words to perform when he can speak through his eyes a million times better. Even without knowing his story, you empathize with him from the first time he looks straight into the camera. He already tells his tale, and you already know something. Bow down to him!

The next story, Sanitized Samachar, had a group of actors making their best effort to put a nice story together, and it is commendable how each of them holds the fort in their best capacities. Right from Boloram Das to Preeti Hansraj Sharma and Romita Sarkar to Aditya Pandey, all of them shine in this little effort to create something meaningful.

Jitendra Kumar is the supporting man in Dharna Mana Hai, and still, he makes his place in this social satire that makes you want to explore more about Nimisha Sajayan as an actor. Both the stars in a mute show offer powerful performances that keep you hooked till the end.

Lantrani Movie Review Out ( Photo Credit – ZEE5 / YouTube )

Lantrani Movie Review: Direction, Music

Hud Hud Dabangg, directed by Kaushik Ganguly, sets the tone right for this set of realistic films. The second film, Sanitized Samachar, is a weak blend of writing and story directed by Bhaskar Hazarika, and thus, it has been sandwiched in between, followed by the third story, Dharna Mana Hai, by Gurvinder Singh. All three directors might have given three different stories from rural India, but they keep the tone and treatment for all three stories somewhat similar, and hence, despite being totally aloof, the three stories seem just another chapter from the same book.

Usually, anthologies do not achieve this level of synchronization, and kudos to the three directors for achieving this, for this does not seem to be a co-incidental synch and comes across as a much worked-upon effort to bind the stories together.

The music for all three films was underwhelming. Especially Hazarika’s song Jogi in Sanitized Samachar seemed much out of place. The one department that could have actually enhanced the viewing experience for these films was the music, which could have definitely been done better.

Lantrani Movie Review Out ( Photo Credit – ZEE5 / YouTube )

Lantrani Movie Review: The Last Word

Lantrani, in the real sense, means something that is irrelevant – blabbering perhaps or blabbering with an intent to show off – all of it is Lantrani in a local dialect. Whoever chose this title, it was such a brilliant take on irony that this man deserves applause. So, while the three films explore a simple question – Zindagi Aadat Ki Baat Hoti Hai Ya Himmat Ki? as discussed by Johnny Lever and Jisshu Sengupta in the first film, the three films definitely deserve your time, and you’ll not be disappointed.

3.5 stars. (0.5 for the effort, totally!)