'Lantrani' review: ZEE5 film can't balance its ambition with execution
Anthology film Lantrani, starring Johnny Lever, Jitendra Kumar, and Nimisha Sajayan, is streaming on ZEE5. Written by Durgesh Singh and directed by Bhaskar Hazarika, Gurvinder Singh, and Kaushik Ganguly, it's ambitious but shakes and suffers in its execution, becoming a below-average, forgettable affair. The dialogues are inelegant and casting choices seem odd, making one wonder how Lantrani even took off from the scripting stage.
First short: 'Hud Hud Dabang' by Ganguly
Ganguly-helmed Hud Hud Dabang, my favorite due to Lever's and Jisshu Sengupta's consistent, believable, and gravitas-laden performances, is the first story. Raw, authentic, earnest, and tender, it revolves around a cop (Lever), entrusted with shifting a jail inmate (Sengupta) to the court on his last day of duty. That last detail is poignant because this will be the cop's final takeaway from his duty.
Analysis of 'Hud Hud Dabang'
HHD is powered through its narrative details; a man recites Hanuman chalisa in the background while Lever relishes his food. The surroundings are important to the story: the police station is located in the middle of nowhere; it's the kind of place where you won't see a soul after 7:00pm. We are a fly on the wall here; an invested spectator in the proceedings.
More on its merits and demerits
I wouldn't have guessed the prisoner's "crime," because the short fools you into believing it's a flimsy, out-and-out comic entertainer, but it soon shifts gears in a way that makes you want to re-consider everything you have just watched. However, what goes against it is that the imagery and messaging are too on-the-nose; the film is desperate for you to notice its "intelligence."
'Sanitized Samachar' by Hazarika
The second short—the weakest in the anthology—seems inspired by real-life incidents and yet, is so ludicrous that it should simply have been a school skit. Its cynosure is a news channel, battling financial doom in the first few days of the pandemic, forced to run an ad for their lone sponsor, "Covinash" sanitizer. Everyone in the channel jumps at this opportunity, successfully completing it.
Here's why it fails to take off
Unnecessary abusive language, done-to-death events, and an uninspiring and insipid screenplay are the biggest undoings of Sanitized Samachar. There is a gaping hole where intrigue should have been. It uses unnecessarily abusive language to spice things up, and it's impossible to believe its dialogues because they're so exaggerated. It's almost like a bad product being made to appear glossy, but with tacky packaging.
'Dharna Mana Hai' by Singh
The last short, starring Sajayan and Kumar, circles caste politics and is about a lower-caste couple, Debu and Gomti, who are denied their rights despite Gomti winning sarpanch elections. Here, too, the narrative is muddled and confused; there is hardly any sense of coherence or continuity and the supporting characters seem like they were written into the script at the eleventh hour.
Good actors, but they can't salvage a sinking ship
Though I liked seeing Sajayan—a Malayalam actor—slip into the role of a North Indian—I wanted more from this story, and it left me mightily, tragically disappointed. It's always painful to see good actors sacrificed at the altar of drab storytelling, which is the case here too. And with Kumar at the front, it's tough not to feel that this isn't a Panchayat sub-plot.
Give it a miss
My expectations of Lantrani emerged from its ensemble cast and anthology films' usually satisfying track record and everlasting appeal. However, none of my expectations were met, and Lantrani is unfortunately too complacent in its mediocrity and too afraid to combat its constricted-ness. How do half-cooked dishes taste when removed from the stove too soon? Lantrani is the cinematic equivalent of that. It gets 2/5.
