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Zee Studios and Namah Pictures’ Lost (UA) is a thriller. Ishan (Tushar Pandey) does street plays. He is in love with Ankita Chauhan (Pia Bajpaiee). One day, he goes missing. Soon, the police declare that he has Maoist links. His family comprising his mother (Sohag Sen), married sister, Namita (Honey Jain), and brother-in-law, Aman (Akshay Kapoor), can’t believe that he could align himself to the Maoist movement. A crime reporter, Vidhi Sahni (Yami Gautam Dhar), investigates the story of the disappearance. According to her sources, politician Varman (Rahul Khanna) is behind Ishan’s disappearance. Has Ishan been killed?
Shyamal Sengupta and Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury have penned a fairly good story but there are some minus points too. For one, the audience does not get invested in Ishan because there’s very little one knows about him when he disappears. This may have worked had the character of Ishan been played by a top star, but since that’s not the case, the writers ought to have established the character of Ishan much more to make the audience feel even more for the missing Ishan. Also, the screenplay, penned by Shyamal Sengupta, moves on a single track and, therefore, becomes boring at places. What’s more, the screenplay appears too stretched and slow-paced also. Ritesh Shah’s dialogues are quite nice.
Yami Gautam Dhar performs well in the role of Vidhi Sahni. Pankaj Kapur is good as her grandfather. Rahul Khanna looks sauve and plays the ruthless yet cool politician in style. Tushar Pandey is natural in a role which gives him limited footage as Ishan. Pia Bajpaiee leaves a fine mark with her nuanced performance in the role of Ankita Chauhan. Neil Bhoopalam is alright as Vidhi’s boyfriend, Jeet. Honey Jain is very appealing as Ishan’s sister, Namita. Akshay Kapoor also delivers a lovely performance as Ishan’s brother-in-law, Aman. Kaushik Sen makes a mark as Rana. Arindam Sil has his moments as police officer Prabir Ghoshal. Suman Mukhopadhyay performs ably as Kunal. Sohag Sen appears genuine as Ishan’s distraught mother. Anubha Fatehpuria and Vinay Sharma lend good support as Vidhi’s parents. Jogi Mallang (as Zia) is fine. Ashok Mehra (as Umashankar Mukherjee), Abrar Zahoor Dhar (as Ruhel Dabraki), Samiul Alam (as Nayeem), Amitabh Acharya (as senior police inspector Palat), Biswabijoy Dutta Choudhury (as the duty officer at the police station), Yogesh Bhardwaj (as Thakur), Debopriyo Mukherjee (as Shakeel), Pradeep Guhathakurta (as the officer at the special branch), Madhurima Goswami (as Aanaya), Kartikey Tripathi (as Joy), Moumita Pandit (as Joy’s partner), Soumitra Gupta (as the marriage registrar officer) and the rest provide lovely support.
Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury’s direction is good but it caters to the class audience only. Shantanu Moitra’s music goes very well with the mood of the film. The ‘Roshni’ song is pretty appealing. The other songs are also melodious. Swanand Kirkire’s lyrics are weighty. Shantanu Moitra’s background music is impactful. Cinematography (by Avik Mukhopadhyay) is very nice. Amar Shetty’s action and stunt scenes are natural. Navin Kenkre’s production designing and Tapash Sarkar’s art direction are lovely. Bodhaditya Banerjee’s editing is reasonably sharp but could’ve been sharper.
On the whole, Lost is a fair entertainer for those who like thrillers. But it is a film meant for the classes only. It is good that it has been premiered on a streaming platform because it would’ve faced an uphill task at the box-office had it been released theatrically.
Released on 16-2-’23 on Zee5.
