Lost Review - Yami Gautam Finds A Challenging Role In This Lost Thriller

Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury takes on the challenging subject of human search in his latest thriller, Lost, starring Yami Gautam. Being a journalist, it seems fascinating to see someone portraying our character on screen (entertainment journalism is different though), but somewhere it exposes many nuances of the cinematic liberty taken by the makers. Lost has lost the battle there, but despite that, it makes a one-time watch as Yami Gautam finds a new challenging role soon after delivering her career-best in A Thursday. One more reason is its authenticity, as the film is based on true events; otherwise, no one would have believed what they saw here.Lost is about a young crime reporter, Vidhi Sahani (Yami Gautam), who gets involved in the missing case of a young artist, Ishan Bharti (Tushar Pandey). Ishan, who is a theatre artist and a love interest of Ankita (Pia Bajpaiee), suddenly disappears after some arguments with his girlfriend. The reason behind his reluctance is a politician, Ranjan Varman (Rahul Khanna), who drives Ankita away from her passion (acting) and from Ishan. Vidhi finds a big-breaking story in this cobweb of love, betrayal, political agendas, and Maoism but is unable to digest some shocking facts. Will she be able to crack the human story of a new hope is all you get to see in Lost.Written by Shyamal Sengupta and Ritesh Shah, Lost is based on true events but still fails to feel real on many occasions. A journalist making it her personal battle is too much for a lady who hasn't even met the concerning person once in her life. Moreover, the psychological elements and uneasiness cost more than a buck compared to the actual amount, which isn't more than half in the first place. Lost is slow paced, and that's okay too, as we have seen thrillers like No One Killed Jessica (2011) and Kahaani (2012) using mystical thrillers very well with proper conclusions, and that was more than a decade ago. But then there are some below par attempts like Noor (2017), which didn't live up to the content, and Lost is somewhat close to that film. The only difference is an additional boost of Maoism and activism, but even that doesn't go to an extended level. The screenplay drags for sure, and it could have been easily avoided.Lost is all on Yami Gautam's shoulder, as she is the one who appears throughout the film, like non-stop for two hours. She has done a fabulous job while playing a passionate reporter, and everything is visible in her expressions and dialogue delivery. The moments of fear, nervousness, generosity, gasping, sighing, and excitement are well captured by her. And I don't need to tell you how gorgeous she looks as a decent Bengali girl. Pia Bajpaiee finally gets the tough role she was looking for, and she gives full justice to the role. Her chemistry with Tushar Pandey might please young couples; otherwise, it's occasionally irritating with lots of unnecessary kisses. Tushar is fine in his role, as is Pankaj Kapur, but only if he could have avoided those gone-dated sayings. The other two supporting actors, Neil Bhoopalam and Rahul Khanna, have done okay.Lost seems like a perfect fit for OTT, as theatre-going audiences would have completely rejected it. The editing lacks crispness, despite the chilling background score, which has been used a little too much. Avik Mukhopadhyay's camerawork is decent, but his eye for Yami's close-up shots is amazing. Shantanu Moitra's music has no hit numbers, and it isn't even suitable for the situational songs' criteria. Aniruddha Roy Chowdhury is best known for Pink, while the rest of his filmography isn't that popular among Hindi audiences. Lost seems like another addition to the list, with Pink continuing to remain his best and most popular work in Bollywood. Lost is a victim of his vision of not looking at things as per contemporary filmmaking styles. Like mentioned above, Kahaani and No One Killed Jessica had good suspense and carried the excitement till the last scene, but Lost uses those decade-old cliches, which is too late for 2023. Aniruddha is responsible for making Lost lose its way. A human hunt/search drama is never supposed to make a huge impression unless it has some VIP, and Lost attempts to break that typicality. Watch it if you believe it, and Yami's acting.