'Lantrani' movie review: Johny Lever and Jitendra Kumar's film feels familiar yet earnest

Cast: Johny Lever, Jitendra Kumar, Jisshu Sengupta

Directors: Kaushik Ganguly, Bhaskar Hazarika, and Gurvinder Singh 

Language: Hindi

The writer of the immensely engaging Gullak, Durgesh Singh, now makes a film called Lantrani, a uniquely titled film that showcases the harsh and also humorous realities of rural India. This is a genre that has produced some great stories and unforgettable characters. There’s something about this side of our country that continues to preserve rich texture and culture. And directors Kaushik Ganguly, Bhaskar Hazarika, and Gurvinder Singh have a lot of the battle won, if not half, by casting Johny Lever as one of their actors.

There’s also the current hot property Jitendra Kumar, and Jisshu Sengupta. It’s hard to decipher what exactly the film is trying to portray since it deals with various complex issues like the pandemic and even what ordinary police officers go through in their mundane and routine lives. And Lever is always fun to watch, and here, he does hold his horses and yet evokes humor, thanks to the writing. However, Kumar could be on the verge of being stereotyped by going rustic in one title after another.

Lantrani is an attempt by the makers to tell different stories of different people bogged down by similar circumstances and how their lives are intertwined. The screenplay isn’t complex or scattered that allows every character to breathe and have his own moment of glory and even pathos. Singh seems to have lived the characters he pens for the viewers, there’s always a sense of lived-in that infuses his fictional people with realism and restrain. That’s precisely why Lantrani, despite some patches of familiarity, feels fresh.

There’s chaos everywhere and amid the noise and pandemonium, the film takes out time to communicate about issues that only make way on social media before another debate takes over. It’s surely not a perfect film but a decent attempt at shedding light on something that was always left in the dark.

Rating: 3 (out of 5 stars)

Lantrani is now streaming on Zee5