City Lights

First observation is 6.6 rating under estimation for the movie review.

The movie is all about struggle of the village person moving into Mumbai for his survival, nothing more and nothing less. True to its spirit, the lead actor Rajkumar Rao delivers one of his best performances at least at par with Shahid, If nothing alteast watchable for this great acting. Arijit Singh's background one-liners and music adds onto its flavours and somehow you can't ignore those humming moments.

Some might feel that the movie is slow but whatever it may be, you won't regret watching this movie that's for sure.

Rajkumar Rao once again scores high in this film. Really gripping story and cinematography with a flavour of excellent acting makes this movie worth watching.

Citylights re-unites the director actor duo Hansal Mehta & Rajkumar Rao after a superb "Shahid" which won each of them the National Award this year.CityLights Citylights is an adaptation of 2013 Award winning movie "METRO MANILA" directed by Sean Elllis and Hansal Mehta does complete justice to the original. The story is credited to Sean Ellis the original writer of METRO MANILA; the adapted screenplay is by Ritesh Shah. Ritesh stays true to the original but adapts it to the Indian context of people from smaller towns who migrate to the city of dreams Mumbai expecting to make a better living. Just a piece of advice if you are looking at an entertaining movie then this is definitely not the right choice.

Citylights is the story of Deepak (Rajkumar Rao) and Rakhee (Patralekha) who come to Mumbai from Rajasthan to make a better living but become victim of the shrewd reality of city life. The story by Sean Ellis captures the pathos of a small town guy well in his story and Ritesh's screenplay captures the nuances well. At times the movie's pace becomes sluggish especially during song sequences which was unnecessary. Some of the sequences are very well written albeit I felt the climax was a bit hurried and could have been presented well.

It is the performances which make the movie memorable. Rajkumar Rao gives another brilliant performance. His portrayal of Deepak Singh is so realistic that you wonder whether he is really acting. The Dialect to the body language is all up to the mark. Another superb performance is of Manav Kaul who plays Vishnu a friend of Deepak with ulterior motives. After "Kai Po Che" Manav again shows his caliber, this is an actor to look forward to. Sadia Siddique as Vishnu's wife is good albeit her role is small. Patralekha as Rakhee does show a spark but gets overshadowed by Rajkumar and Manav.

Production Design by Rajat Poddar is realistic. Editing by Apoorva Asrani could have been sharp. Jeet Ganguli's music is good but does not gel with the narration rather it hampers the pace.

Hansal Mehta's forte is to get the human emotions bang on and he succeeds in this movie as well but fails a bit in giving it a Thriller edge and finesse in the narration which was the highlight in the original METRO MANILA.

4/5 Insanely brilliant. Extremely poignant. True to life. These expressions spring up in my mind as I begin to write this review. You see, I am still recovering from the emotional, thrilling and dramatic sledgehammer which is Citylights. To put it plainly, this is the most consistently brilliant Hindi movie I have watched in all of 2014. I was hooked from the first frame and loved the unpredictable turns the script took. The worst and the best of human nature are vividly portrayed throughout the length of Citylights and it makes for some heart rendering and some truly uncomfortable moments. It casts light on the plight of the rural migrant who comes to the city with high hopes. The contrast between the humane behavior of the so called vulgar elements of the society and the coldness, aloofness and predatory nature of the venerated high society is masterfully displayed.

The acting is as good as it gets. Raj Kumar is easily the best new actor in Hindi industry. He gives a superlative follow up performance to his class act in Shahid. The debutante Patralekha matches him and even manages to outshine him in some scenes. This has the best kind of music, which propels the story forward rather than acting as an impediment to the story telling. Hansal Mehta, the director, deserves the highest praise for acting on his vision and making his second path breaking film (after Shahid) in two years. This is one of those films which helped me reaffirm my faith in the present of Hindi cinema. I loved it.

One of the best movies i have ever seen from Bollywood Cinema. Realty of a poor man and his struggle to get his family out of poverty. This movie simply touched my heart how well it portrayed the real life scenario's of a real person, so many difficulties and sacrifices he has to give just to achieve a roof over and three times food for his family. Even though it wasn't a typical khan movie this movie is a block buster in my list. Unfortunately it didn't get the praise it deserves. But still you should watch the movie and enjoy. Bot male and female actors have done there best. And for this they deserve an applause. Don't get deceive by the film cast just like a book by its cover. Watch and enjoy and than praise the cast.