Movie: Lakadbaggha
Form: Anshuman Jhan, Riddhi Dogra, Paresh Pahuja
Director: Victor Mukherjee
Date of publication: January 13, 2022
Where to look: In theatres
Review by: Rupal Purohit
Bollywood is back in shape after being hit hard by the global pandemic. Theaters are again experiencing three to four releases per week. At present, one such film released is Anshuman Jha star Lakadbaggha, a new concept that was not explored in Indian cinema. The film is an attempt to portray a vigilante who is an animal lover. Read on to know if Lakadbaggha is worth watching in theatres.
Lakadbaggha is a uniquely conceptualized film in which an animal lover’s vigilante goes up against an animal abuser. It is touted as India’s first film about an animal-loving vigilante, but it falls short. The film has a slow pace and does not keep the audience hooked. Also, the film does not revolve around the title Lakadbaggha as the makers put more emphasis on Arjun’s dogs till the end. A few scenes could have been cut to make it sharp or more should have been added to justify the ending rather than a pale conclusion.
What is it about?
The story takes place in Kolkata where an ordinary Bengali boy Arjun Bakshi played by Anshuman Jha is a dog lover and cannot stand anyone who mistreats his dog friend and as a result he beats them to death. Bakshi is a children’s martial arts trainer and a messenger boy by day and an animal lover by night. One fine day, his dog Shanku goes missing and during his hunt, Arjun comes across a black-striped hyena, a Lakadbaggha in Hindi. Soon after, he learns about the city’s illegal pet trade. While Riddhi Dogra is a crime department officer who is on the hunt for a vigilante and unknown to her, the illegal business is being run by his brother played by Paresh Pahuja.
Watch the movie trailer of Lakadbaggha here:
What’s hot?
The action sequences are well choreographed from start to finish as Arjun Bakshi beats the criminals to their graveyard. The fight scenes are taken from Israeli martial arts – Krav-Maga. Anushamna Jha performed all the stunts with ease and his acting is commendable. Paresh Pahuja has beaten his performance as an antagonist while Riddhi Dogra did her best in the big screen film as a debutant.
What not
The title is about Lakadbaggha and the main character Hyena is clearly a bad piece of VFX. The black-striped hyena is shown shorter and appears to be fake. The background score does not match action sequences and the time length is stretched extremely unnecessarily. Milind Soman’s cameo is a shame when he appears in a movie after almost eight years.
BL verdict
Lakadbaggha is suitable for watching OTT comfortably. It is so stretched that unnecessary scenes could have been cut. Anshuman Jha as a producer and main hero and director Victor Mukherjee tried their best to make it a unique film but the audience disappointed. Two stars for the acting and for portraying love for stray dogs. Lakadbaggha had the potential to be a better movie but his execution dragged it down.
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