India Lockdown Review - Story

The film is set in 2020 when the Indian government announces its first lockdown. The film runs on four parallel stories and deals with how each character handles the lockdown situation. The first story is about Nageshwar Rao (Prakash Belawadi) who gets stuck in Mumbai. Then, there is a poor couple played by Saie Tamhankar and Pratiek Babbar who want to go back to their native state Bihar. In another story, Mehrunnisa is a sex worker whose business gets affected due to Covid. Last but not the least, the last story is about Dev (Satvik Bhatia) who wants to have a good time with his girlfriend. Each story has issues caused by Covid and how they deal with it forms the crux.

India Lockdown Review - Analysis

Madhur Bhandarkar, who is known to make realistic films, has directed India Lockdown. He has taken four key circles in society which got affected the most during Covid and has made a story out of it. Firstly, Amit Joshi, Aradhana Sah and Madhur Bhandarkar's story is fine but the narration by Madhur has loose ends. You get an incomplete feeling that the film has not ended in a proper manner and something is missing in the whole process. 

However, one aspect where Madhur shines is the manner in which he showcases the drastic lifestyle changes in the rich and poor. The scene of a poor couple eating rotten bananas in tough times whereas at the same time, the character of Ahana Kumra making a banana cake moves you. In a way, the winner in India Lockdown is its casting and nuanced performances. Prateik Babbar’s performance as a migrant worker stands out. Swetha Basu Prasad is amazing as a sex worker. The conviction with which she performs her role is superb. India Lockdown has its own share of flaws. Novelty-wise, there is nothing new that Bhandarkar has showcased. The entire country knows what problems the people faced and already so many films and series are made in this regard. That is the reason, the audience gets a feeling of 'been there done that. One gets a feeling that the problems caused by Covid should have been highlighted more. India Lockdown is all about the pain the people went through. But here in this film, the emotions hardly move you. This happens because Madhur does nor dwell in the backstories of the key characters. There are also a few characters who go overboard in the narrative. Aahana Kumra hams like there is no tomorrow. Her performance could have been toned down to make things better. Rohit Kulkarni's music is disappointing but his background score was good. Keiko Nakahara and Palash Das's cinematography is neat. Shamim Kopkar's production design is realistic. Dialogues are hard hitting. Lastly, the plight of migrant workers who were affected the most is not highlighted. This aspect had so much scope to evoke emotions but Madhur missed an opportunity and rushed his narration to end the film thereby falling flat at the end.

India Lockdown Review - Verdict

Madhur Bhandarkar's India Lockdown dwells in the lives of a select few who went through hell during India's first lockdown. While the stories are exciting on paper, execution-wise, they appear dull and do not create any impact. There are a few scenes which move you but the rest of the plot is mundane and does not move you emotionally making it a below par watch.