Life in a Metro

After long Hindi cinema has finally taken the jump and started dealing with more in depth emotional subjects. We get intelligent dialogue that looks and comes across naturally. Real issues faced by the modern Indians of today brought to life in this brilliant thought provoking films. that leaves you questioning several aspects of the movie. Shilpa's acting is the best I have seen out of all her movies. Konkona, Kangana, Irfan, Shiny, Kay Kay and Sharman have all acted brilliantly. the scenes between Shilpa and Shiny have been done brilliantly as have the scenes between Dharmendra and Shivani. The film starts of interestingly and engrosses you further, as the story unfolds. the soundtrack lends itself beautifully to the surroundings and you get a sense of a modern vibrant moving city with real people leading real lives (not your usual song and dance sequences around the world) This film portrays a deeper unexplored side of human nature that is very rarely addressed in Hindi films. Brilliantly shot and acted. A must see film.

With one movie, Anurag Basu rose quite high in my books as a director to look out for. Gangster was in many ways a complete movie for an Indian Movie audience and one of the best features of last year. Expectantly, Life in a... Metro was highly anticipated, especially with the movie repeating most of Basu cast & crew and a few more welcome actors. Basu sits right on top of the breed of Bhatt-nurtured directors who, if nothing else, have always made movies distinctly different from regular Bollywood fare.

Life in a... Metro is an amalgamation of six stories between nine characters from one suburb. These stories entwine and intersect at various points to portray personal lives for regular middle-class suburb dwellers. Passion, Sex, Loyalty, Romance, Lust, Stress and Love become the underlying themes woven into the fabric of the movie.

Basu is not in top form here, but this could be more due to constraints of mainstream Bollywood. Visibly a bigger and a more conformist producer like UTV (Ronnie Screwwala) is not as liberal as the Bhatts with Basu. Melodrama and formula somehow creep in and take over the final act of the movie in a complete departure of style from the rest of the movie. Apart from this major gripe, Basu deftly handles interspersing between stories and fleshing out his characters. Adultery becomes a major theme in most of the stories, but moral questions are not raised and neither ignored. Events are simply depicted "as is", letting the viewer judge for him/herself of their moral implications. That extra-marital affairs and sex-for-favors exist is taken as fact rather than implied, taboo'd or endorsed. Rather, the effect of it on individuals is depicted differently and quite aptly. Among the troupe of (mostly) wonderful actors, Kay Kay Menon thunders ahead portraying a selfish and chauvinistic husband and boss. Any scenes with him are the highlights of the movie proving again beyond doubt how wonderful an actor he is, regardless of the character he plays. Yet, for the genuinety of him you are left wanting to see more of him on screen than the limited screen time the director could afford. Complementing him in a parallel story is Irrfan, an equally gifted actor, playing a passionate and philosophical middle-age single guy looking for an ideal wife through matrimonial ads. Sprinkle around them a host of characters to support their stories, and you have a wonderful ensemble that is as true to the setup of the movie as any. Shiny Ahuja and Kanga Ranaut play easy parts but their talents are used only to a minimum. Dharmendra, Nafisa Ali, Sharman Joshi and Konkona Sen Sharma play regulars. Exception: Shilpa Shetty. Her character and performance are so out of this movie that you wonder if she walked into the wrong movie set with a different script. Shamelessly flaunting her star status and new-found celebrity, she proves yet again that being and "Actor" and a "Movie Star" are not mutually inclusive.

Basu's association with Pritam continues to produce some really good music. The movie's music is more of a soundtrack with a single musical theme in all the tracks. Basu also has the three-member band appear throughout the movie inbetween and during scenes. These band members are part of the crowd, or drifters singing the tracks that are sprinkled through the movie. A high-end concept for Indian Cinema, and one that works for me completely.

Although the climax reaches levels of extreme campyness, it is easy to forgive the director for the battle he fights with only a few others on his side against Bollywood conventionalism. Yet, after the powerful Gangster, Basu's latest is a step down. For his and our sake, I wish him back to the Bhatts.

My Rating --> 3.5 of 5

They say all's well that ends well. And what if it starts well, runs well and ultimately ends well. Then it's something really good. That's the case with Anurag Basu's Life in a Metro.

The film has promising start, with 7-8 different characters being introduced, with Mumbai rains in backdrop. Then a rock band, as drenched as the city, appears from nowhere to churn out a fabulous opening song. You prepare yourself for a good cinematic experience during the song itself. And the best part is the promise is not broken till the end.

It's a story of different characters, interwoven together with some link. The narrative is tight and gripping. And that rock band keeps appearing in between, giving soul to the narration. Pritam has done a good job in music department. The film depicts how lives have become in today's fast living cities. People are always in top gear. Chase, rivalry, competition, dreams, compromises, sexual frustrations, exploitation, opportunism, disappointment, love, ecstasy… you'll find all emotions in the movie. The film tells the story of people who in search of destination forgot to enjoy the journey, who listen their minds over their hearts. The story is very believable, very true to life. Don't be surprised if you find yourself in one of the characters.

Anurag Basu has assembled a line of best performing actors. Kay Kay is impeccable as ever. Shilpa Shetty looks as good as she acts; she's finally getting roles to show her acting prowess and not only those never ending legs. Irfan and Konkana are at equal élan with comedy as they are with intense roles. Sharman Joshi is one actor who seems to fit any bill. Kangna is improving, both her looks and dialog delivery. But best performer remains Anurag Basu. He has handled the script and actors wonderfully to give a very good cinema. A very good effort by the whole team.

Inspired by Love Actually and that genre of storytelling, "Life in a Metro" is a sometimes insightful and sometimes predictable movie that is well worth a watch for its performances. The narrative featuring Kay Kay and Shilpa Shetty is genuine with many insightful comments -Shilpa Shetty's about the "deafening silences in marriages", the interesting question of which between physical or emotional infidelity is worse. Kay Kay's character of being a loving father who is adored by his daughter was a further dose of realism. Nothing is black and white. Special mention to both Kay Kay and Shilpa Shetty (didn't realise she had it in her) for really pulling it off. Shiny Ahuja is adequate without being special.

The other narratives were more predictable. Sharman Joshi and Kangana Raut - which is sort of a take off from "The Apartment" with Jack Lemmon and "For Love or Money" with Michael J Fox. So were Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali as the loving elder couple.

The track with Konkona Sen and Irfan is very entertaining. Irfan Khan is outstanding - an adjective one has started to use very often with him. Konkona adequate. However the circumstances make for some genuinely funny moments. Konkona as the 30 year old virgin dying to be with her idea man and Irfan - as about the most unlikely of men she could ever see herself with.

While I would not go so far as to herald this movie as either a path-breaking or life-altering Hindi movie (as some of the more dramatic leanings have suggested), I would say it is well worth a watch. It has a good music track - but could have done without the really hairy guy singing, as we changed from one narrative to the other.

This is a good blend of lives of different kinds of people staying in a metro and the conditions and situations they come across. The story is interwoven with different characters related to each other and takes care of all kinds of people not to miss any kind of character that is found in a metro. It is sensitive at times but entertaining. The plot is so nicely woven that you would be in touch with each and every character. The songs are also good and situational. Finally the end being really very crucial and the situations that come up treat everybody in a very practical way to manage everything and you wont feel it unrealistic because the directors and the script writers have done their job....

In short, once watchable, worth spending few hours for entertainment. I hope everybody enjoys......