Critic's Rating:
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Arjan Bajwa, Tia Bajpai
Direction: Maqbool Khan
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours
Avg Readers Rating:
Jaswant’s (Manoj Bajpayee) terror reigns in a small town where he keeps a mistress (Tia Bajpai). When his equation with the local police inspector (Yashpal Sharma) goes sour, and his young cousin (Arjan Bajwa) arrives, things take a turn for the worse. Find out more in the review of Lanka.
lanka Movie Poster
Lanka Movie Poster
Business rating: 1 / 5 stars
Star cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Tia Bajpai, Arjan Bajwa, Yashpal Sharma.
What’s Good: Manoj Bajpayee’s acting; the dialogues; the drama in the first half.
What’s Bad: The second half; the convenient screenplay; the lack of hit songs; the slow pace of the film.
Verdict: Lanka lacks in star, entertainment and promotional value. Flop!
Loo break: A couple in the second half.
Watch or Not?: Watch it for Manoj Bajpayee’s performance but do not expect a lot.
7 Votes
Cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Arjan Bajwa, Tia Bajpai
Direction: Maqbool Khan
Genre: Drama
Duration: 2 hours
Avg Readers Rating:
Jaswant’s (Manoj Bajpayee) terror reigns in a small town where he keeps a mistress (Tia Bajpai). When his equation with the local police inspector (Yashpal Sharma) goes sour, and his young cousin (Arjan Bajwa) arrives, things take a turn for the worse. Find out more in the review of Lanka.
lanka Movie Poster
Lanka Movie Poster
Business rating: 1 / 5 stars
Star cast: Manoj Bajpayee, Tia Bajpai, Arjan Bajwa, Yashpal Sharma.
What’s Good: Manoj Bajpayee’s acting; the dialogues; the drama in the first half.
What’s Bad: The second half; the convenient screenplay; the lack of hit songs; the slow pace of the film.
Verdict: Lanka lacks in star, entertainment and promotional value. Flop!
Loo break: A couple in the second half.
Watch or Not?: Watch it for Manoj Bajpayee’s performance but do not expect a lot.
7 Votes
Story: Manoj Bajpayee, a local gangster rules over the small town of Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh. He follows no law and the law turns a blind eye towards all his misdeeds. His rule of fear extends to a doctor's family where he forces the daughter, Tia Bajpai, of the CMO to become his mistress and ruthlessly exploits her. Will his own protegee, Arjan Bajwa, end up as Tia's saviour?
Movie Review: The film works essentially as a no-holds-barred indictment of the lawlessness that prevails in the small, neglected towns which have somehow fallen off the map of India in terms of infrastructure, law and order and development. Small time gangsters and hoodlums, with direct links to the power brokers and petty politicians hold the town to ransom and run it as their fiefdom, with the police department virtually being defunct. Truly, it's the law of the jungle that prevails in these proverbial Lankas.
Bijnor, in the backwaters of Uttar Pradesh, is one such town where Manoj Bajpayee rises as the mythological Ravana. The film mirrors the tension and chaos of the mofussil area faithfully and does manage to keep you engrossed with the sundry little battles that ensue between the cops, the goons, rival gangs, conflicting communities...a virtual volcano, threatening to explode any moment. Add to this the confrontation between Bajpayee and his faithful henchman, Bajwa and you have enough drama to hold your attention. Bajwa's rebellion against his mentor, as he swears to set the girl free, is measured and controlled while Manoj Bajpayee's fiefdom is fearsome. In fact, Bajpayee's performance as the local dada is multi-hued and refreshingly fails to fall into the trap of the purely negative character, despite the heinous nature of his crimes.
It is the length of the film and its somewhat laboured tenor which works against it. A bit of pruning and editing would have worked favourably for it.
Movie Review: The film works essentially as a no-holds-barred indictment of the lawlessness that prevails in the small, neglected towns which have somehow fallen off the map of India in terms of infrastructure, law and order and development. Small time gangsters and hoodlums, with direct links to the power brokers and petty politicians hold the town to ransom and run it as their fiefdom, with the police department virtually being defunct. Truly, it's the law of the jungle that prevails in these proverbial Lankas.
Bijnor, in the backwaters of Uttar Pradesh, is one such town where Manoj Bajpayee rises as the mythological Ravana. The film mirrors the tension and chaos of the mofussil area faithfully and does manage to keep you engrossed with the sundry little battles that ensue between the cops, the goons, rival gangs, conflicting communities...a virtual volcano, threatening to explode any moment. Add to this the confrontation between Bajpayee and his faithful henchman, Bajwa and you have enough drama to hold your attention. Bajwa's rebellion against his mentor, as he swears to set the girl free, is measured and controlled while Manoj Bajpayee's fiefdom is fearsome. In fact, Bajpayee's performance as the local dada is multi-hued and refreshingly fails to fall into the trap of the purely negative character, despite the heinous nature of his crimes.
It is the length of the film and its somewhat laboured tenor which works against it. A bit of pruning and editing would have worked favourably for it.
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