Director Ranjit Tiwari's debut feature film is about a bunch of jail inmates forming a music band as a cover to execute their escape plan. While it has all the regular elements of a prison film that push it to the bracket of mediocre cinema, one of the few things that sets it apart is that not much time is spent in the proceedings (which is ironical if you consider it in relation to a court).

Farhan Akhtar plays Kishan Girhotra who is accused, tried, and convicted within five minutes, which is sort of an assurance that the film's message is something else and not about political stranglehold or non-superficial corruption in the Uttar Pradesh capital. Son of a poor librarian, Girhotra had the aspiration to create a desi music band while he was free, but now that things have changed - not much to his fault - he decides to do so while behind bars. The difference, and thus the primary problem, with the film is that it is not clear if Girhotra wants freedom or considers forming a band in prison as his definition of freedom. Director Tiwari tries to provide answers at the end but falls prey to his own ambition to drive the musical drama towards a nail-biting prison escape (attempt) culmination.

Akhtar looks out of the place in the film, only throwing defective pronunciation at you to show that his character hails, in fact, from Lucknow. His (and his inmates) attires may have been thought over but do not help much in convincing their root. Having said that, he gives a decent performance as a wannabe musician. Girhotra once tries to show his work to a famous singer and ends up with a crushed CD in his hands - showcasing the hard truth about the music industry. (So, your chances of getting in is better if you were incarcerated?) Whatever may be the message of the film, having originated from a real-life story hardly adds up to the plausibility. The talented supporting cast put up a good show too, with extra points to Deepak Dobriyal, Inaamulhaq, and Rajesh Sharma who play characters that form the rest of the band. Diana Penty is the puppet that the makers use to show a sliver of romance in the film, but thankfully, never pursue it completely. A serious conversation between Penty's activist character and a police officer is supported by a funny background score - which is the best effort made at comedy, reminding us that the film should not be perceived as serious.

There is nothing novel in the film for an informed viewer to watch and appreciate. The usual prison tiffs between so-called "gangs", territory brawls, a menacing villain in the form of jail warden (a role made just for Ronit Roy),and the unexplored, impracticable escape plan. I am personally not a fan of films where a character introduces other characters - as Dobriyal's does for the other band members - because it exposes poor writing and narration. The good thing, however, is that the characters mimic other people in the film, which shows continuity and thought. For example, a police officer uses the words of the CM to reprimand one of his subordinates, and Pentry's character does the same when she utters an Orson Welles quote borrowed from a librarian.

I have already mentioned the implausibility of the plot, and one of the reasons why it affects the viewing experience so much is that the escape plan is never explored in detail. How are these people going to get out? A detail like the 15-second power generator window is not the only thing. The audience needs details and Lucknow Central chooses to keep them in the dark.

The plot further tries to humanize itself by exploring the characters instead. What prison does to the people waiting outside is one story arc, which again reinforces my point of non-novelty. Supported by a good and believable production setup, songs that gels with the theme, and performances that are watchable, the film pulls all known tricks available in the "prison movie" textbook, but fails to add freshness to the mixture.

At the end, it is clear what Girhotra wanted, but I'm not sure if I can say the same thing about the movie.

Lucknow Central is a drama movie directed by Ranjit Tiwari and stars Farhan Akthar, Diana Penty, Ronit Roy, Gippy Grewal, Deepak Dobriyal, Rajesh Sharma, Inaamulhaq and Ravi Kishen

This movie could've been an easily forgettable movie but due to some great actors and their skills the movie is atleast watchable.

The plot of the movie is fresh but after seeing the movie I can only say that the movie has only lived it's life because of the tons of talent being inducted as the movie is neither well executed nor memorable.

Acting is probably the most strongest point with Farhan Akthar portraying the role of a small town wanna be singer looking to start his own band got framed into murder which he didn't commit. Ronit Roy in his role of a tough jailor was good but considering his talent he could've better. Deepak Dobriyal in his fake bengali accent impresses. Sharma, Grewal and Kishan will effortlessly make you laugh. Diana Penty probably was either crushed under the weight of these heavyweights or was a victim of a poorly written role.

The most sad part of the movie is although being a movie on music none of the song apart from the remaked Kavaan Kavaan hadn't made any impact.

Screenplay of the movie is average and could've been made more crisp and fast paced. The length of the movie could also been trimmed by atleast 20 minutes. Climax of the movie seems to be written and completed in hurry as you will feel something is missing from the end of the movie.

The movie can be watched once and yes the movie has some engaging and cherishing movement.

Lucknow central is a very well directed film though the storyline is very thin, the movie very quickly escalates and takes you right into it but then that is that. Next 2 hrs the movie remains with the same pace until the climax sequence again which will have you at the edge of the seat.

Pros : Direction, Farhans acting ( one man show ),music ( Meer-e Kharwaan especially),Climax.

Cons : Thin story line, needed more nail biting scenes since its about a JailBreak, too many talented artists did not get the room to do much ( Daina penty was amazing in whatever little she had, Deepak dobriyal, Rajesh sharma ) except Ronit Roy who was fab but his portrayal reminds you of all the films that he acted in till now.