The story draws its inspiration from Healing Hearts, a band formed in the real Lucknow Jail to let the inmates chase their dreams of a better living and their passion.
After forming a band in Rock On and Rock On 2, Farhan forms a band yet again in Lucknow Central. This isn’t a typical prison film but we do have a Jailor played by Ronit Roy who is hard and extremely scary in every scene.
Kishen is an aspiring singer who only dreams to lead a band of his own, lands in a jail based on false murder accusations. But he saw a ray of hope when an NGO worker played by Diana Penty is asked to form a band in the jail. A band comprising of members of varied temperaments and talents brings in Deepak Dobriyal (who masters in boom boxing), on the dhol is Rajesh Sharma as Pandit and Farhan akhtar and Gippy Gerewal on vocals.
While the first half is a little slow and focuses on the formation of the band, the second has some high points and is about training and plotting.
Since the film is about band, it becomes really important to get the music right. You will certainly come back humming some some songs back home. Meer e Karwaan is a gem written by Adheesh Verma and composed by Rochak Kohli. The other ‘take home’song is Rangdaari crafted by Arjuna Harjaie and sung by Arijit Singh.
This isn’t a masterpiece but would still give you moments to take home. For the prison break and Shawshank Redemption fans, we probably have managed something close here too. This thankfully isn’t the typical melodramatic jail films. It is a journey where you live and move with the inmates. It is a performance worth your time over the weekend.
