Movie Review – India Lockdown: Resetting Lives. The year 2020 marked the outbreak of the coronavirus into human lives. We all are very aware of the havoc it caused in our lives. Thanks to this virus, words like lockdown and quarantine entered the everyday lexicon of the common man.
Three years down the line the maverick filmmaker Madhur Bhandarkar decided to look back at that period when everyone was forced to coop and bring some lockdown stories onto the filmy celluloid.
At the start of the ‘India Lockdown’, there is a disclaimer warning the audience that these stories are a work of fiction and any resemblance to the living or dead is purely coincidental. However, all those who have lived to tell the tale of the pandemic can easily jog their memory and recall those trying times when people ran out of ration, lost their jobs, and had to walk miles to reach their homes.
Hence teaming with Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah, Bhandarkar picks four stories from different strata of society to show us how the lives of all people were affected, irrespective of their economic strengths or weaknesses.
It stars Madhav (Prateik Babbar) and Phoolmati (Sai Tamhankar). Nageshwar Rao (Prakash Belawadi) and his daughter who is expecting her first child, a pilot Moon (Ahana Kumara) who has grounded, and a sex worker Mehrunissa played by Shweta Basu Prasad.
All four stories are as different as they are similar to each other. They clearly depicted how horrifying and terrible the situation had become for all people. The story, screenplay, and dialogues by Joshi, Sah, and Bhandarkar are straightforward and simple.
No attempt has been made to over-dramatize the trauma and angst. Strong female characters have been a specialty of Bhandarkar. But in ‘India Lockdown’, he focuses more on what the society went through than just individuals. Therefore, performance-wise too everyone does justice to their characters with no one overshadowing the other.
‘India Lockdown’ cannot be termed as a definitive work on the pandemic but certainly, it is the first and major work on this subject. Even in this movie, a blinkered view has been presented with many other aspects and sections being completely blanked out, however, it still strikes with the roots of pain and unease caused by the pandemic.
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Bhandarkar has taken every care that the movie does not hurtle into a documentary and he succeeds totally with that intent. ‘India Lockdown’ is playing on Zee5 and garnering praises all over for its honest attempt and solid storyline and casting.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5
LitGleam rating
