Yadunath Films’ Inn Galiyon Mein (UA) delves into the impact of social media on relationships and societal expectations today.
Mirza (Jaaved Jaffri) lives in Lucknow in the midst of a lane full of Hindus, called Hanuman Gali, and another inhabited by Muslims and called Rehman Gali. The noble-hearted and secular Mirza tries to maintain peace between the two communities. Actually, the two communities have, by and large, lived in harmony. But political agendas and social media are ruining the peace now. Hariya (Vivaan Shah) of Hanuman Gali is in love with Shabbo (Avantika Dasani) of Rehman Gali. Hariya’s mother (Namita Lal) is against the liaison because of the communal divide. Comes along politician Ajay Tiwari (Sushant Singh), and he creates a rift between the two communities to serve his selfish interests. This ultimately costs Mirza his life.
Punarvasu has written the story based on a compilation of short stories, titled Sukhi Nahin Hai Nadi, authored by Vasu Malviya. The story is interesting and keeps the viewers engaged. His screenplay is well-written and underlines how politicians can prove to be dangerous and selfish human beings who don’t care for the lives of commoners. Of course, one has seen films about communal harmony/discord and hence the drama lacks novelty. But having said that, it must be added that the proceedings manage to hold the audience’s interest in spite of this. Punarvasu’s dialogues are natural.
Jaaved Jaffri does a splendid job as Mirza. He plays the character with all the sincerity at his command. Vivaan Shah is endearing as Hariya. Avantika Dasani is natural as Shabbo. Sushant Singh lives the role of politician Ajay Tiwari. Namita Lal lends excellent support as Hariya’s mother. Ishtiyak Khan has his moments as Bhanga. Veenay Bhaskar (as Raju), Amrita Pal (as Shazia), Rajeev Dhyani (as Gupta ji), Utkarsh Bajpai (as Mishra ji), Devasheesh Misra (as Yusufbhai), Shahid Hussain (as Aasifbhai), Himanshu Bajpai (as the poet at the Holi mushaira), Madri Kakoti (as the Holi mushaira moderator) and the others provide adequate support.
Avinash Das’ direction is sensitive. Music (Amaal Malik, Saurabh Khalsi and Arvind Sagole) is fair but no song is popular. Lyrics (Vimal Kashyap, Punarvasu, Yash Malviya and Saurabh Khalsi) are in synch with the film’s mood. Pravin Suryavanshi and Firoz A. Khan’s choreography is functional. Sanjay Chowdhury’s background music is fairly nice. Arvind Kannabiran’s cinematography is of a fine standard. Quincy Sanadhya’s production designing, and Kishore Koche’s art direction are okay. Jabeen Merchant’s editing is sharp.
On the whole, Inn Galiyon Mein is a well-made and engrossing film, but lack of face value and dull promotion will badly affect its box-office run.
Released on 14-3-’25 at Metro Inox (daily 1 show) and other cinemas of Bombay thru Zee Studios. Publicity & opening: dull. …….Also released all over. Opening was poor everywhere.