Nelson Mandela’s famous quote, ‘The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall’ sets a tone of optimism when bustling Mumbai with myriad humans has to shut down in an unprecedented manner.
Director Madhur Bhandarkar and co-writers Amit Joshi and Aradhana Sah lock down the city and the nation gradually and credibly.
Domestic help Phoolmati (Sai Tamhankar) bargains over a new pair of chappals with husband Madhav (Prateik Babbar) holding onto their two kids. He’s just set up a new roadside stall on borrowed money.
Widower and retired bureaucrat Nageshwar Rao (Prakash Belawadi) eagerly looks forward to catching his plane to Hyderabad where daughter Swati (Hrishitaa Bhatt) awaits him before delivering her first baby.
Much in love couple, Palak (Zarin Shihab) and Dev (Satvik Bhatia) can’t wait to be together, she’s all set to lose her virginity.
Fiery sex worker Mehrunissa (Shweta Basu Prasad) collars a groper on the bus but buckles down and gives in to the rough demands of a customer who threatens to tell her mother back in the village what she’s doing in the city.
When Raosaab gives Phoolmati her salary and next month’s too, and advises her to stay away from the next day because the building has put restrictions on outsiders coming in, the spectre of a lockdown all of us have experienced, looms large.
Masks, sanitisers and social distancing creep into lives all over.
And the bustle becomes a hush.
Pilot Moon Alves (Aahana Kumra), a woman always on the go, is restless when grounded and begins to rustle up one dish after the other.
Phoolmati and Madhav have no other go but to head home on foot.
Music is used well as ‘Kaisi ghor basad hai’ plays in the background when the migrants begin the trek from Mumbai to their village in UP. And Mehru breaks into a ‘Loot loongi’ online dance for customers.
How diverse people coped and came out of a grim lockdown is narrated without complication and with a sprinkling of humour. Like the whores enjoying Mehru’s phone sex or Rao grumbling to Bruno the dog who eats canned food, “Am sure it’s you who put nazar on my freshly cooked food”.
Prakash Belawadi as Nageshwar Rao comes off as an ace. Aahana looks a tad masculine with an unbecoming hairstyle and Prateik and Sai are just about okay in a predictable journey.
From the array of actors, it’s Shweta Basu Prasad who walks away with an award-winning performance.
Shweta as Mehru has the juiciest part and the most potent lines, raw without slipping into obscenity. From describing her work as ‘Ganne ka juice hai kya?’ to ‘Kidhar kidhar mask lagayegi? Oopar, neechu?’ and a quick pun on the word ‘protection’, she handles Mehru like a pro. Madhur adds an extra flavour to Mehru when a customer fetches up in an ambulance for a quick job inside the van and she makes a perky comment on a politician’s privilege when the city’s so short of ambulances.
Small touches like Palak’s father saying, “Geyser on kar do,” as soon as he steps into the house or a reference to an E-pass, re-create the lockdown days.
As always, Madhur is gender-friendly when Dev tells neighbour Moon, “Baaton se gender ka kya lena dena?” For the major part, India Lockdown is a neat documentation of a harrowing human experience where heart and hope were packed in the survival kit.
Watch the trailer of India Lockdown:
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