REVIEW: LAKKADBHAGGHA

Producer- Anshuman Jha

Director-Victor Mukherjee

Star Cast- Anshuman Jha, Riddhi Dogra, Paresh Pahuja, Milind Soman and Eksha Kurung

Genre- Social

Platform of Release- Theatres

Rating- ***

Taut Thriller

Jyothi Venkatesh

 The cute film revolves around Kolkata based animal loving vigilante Arjun Bakshi  (Anshuman Jha) who unearths the fact that an underground illegal animal trade cell functions from Kolkata port. On investigating he comes across a very rare species of the Indian striped Hyena (Lakadbaggha). The film opens on a promising note as we witness Arjun, an unassuming lanky chap, breaks bones as he confronts an unavoidable fight with hooligans

Canine vigilantism is not a concept that we have seen being explored in Indian cinema. It takes an actor and producer of Anshuman Jha’s guts to get into an untried territory with nothing to lose except his blood sweat and tears.

Arjun’s “dog-friend” Shanku goes missing and in his search, he finds out dirty truths about illegal animal trading. Amidst all this, he comes face to face with an actual Lakadbagg (Hyena). On his mission, he has a lady cop Akshara DSouza (Riddhi Dogra) who is committed to help him.

Arjun, along with his friends, is determined to undercover the illegal animal trade cell in Kolkata, operated by Aryan D’Souza, Akshara’s own brother Paresh Pahuja. The action sequences are performed well, especially the use of Krav Maga, the mixed-martial art and self-defence system, is very intricately designed.

The USP of the film which ought to have been made slicker by editing out at least 20 minutes are the high octane action sequences directed by Kecha Khamphakdee, who had won the National Award for his action in Bahubali 2: The Conclusion.

As far as the performances go, I should say that Anushuman Jha sincerely gets into the skin of his character as the vigilante with perfect sync, though he looks like the simple boy next door, he succeeds in executing several hand to hand combat action sequences with a lot of finesse. Ridhi Dogra makes a perfect debut with the film after her foray on TV as well as OTT platforms with aplomb.

Milind Soman who appears in a small role as Arjun’s father has been grossly wasted. Paresh Pahuja plays his role as the poacher with clarity while yet another debutante actress Eksha Kurung, who is in real life cop in the North East besides being a professional boxer, aces the show with her agility.

For its sincerity in storytelling and honesty in execution, I’d not hesitate to pat the director of the film Victor Mukherjee on his back and give the film which is essentially a taut thriller without frills a three star rating, though your guess is as good as mine when it comes to predicting whether the film will have a fair run at the box office as it is an offbeat and authentic film