Island City

This is the first movie of Ruchika Oberoi and already he has been awarded some prizes. One of them is 72nd Venice International Film Festival,in that ceremony Ruchika Oberoi won the FEDORA prize for the Best Young Director. It is released many festivals in 2015 but in India it is released 2nd September 2016. it is very clear that the movie is not for the masses and the targeted audiences are only the classes. Ruchika Oberoi is a debutant director by this movie and the movie is produced by NFDC India. It is a movie of three different stories and all are from the island city "Mumbai". The theme and the structure are a little bit old but quite enjoyable.

It is a very slow movie from up to bottom and strictly not for the masses. There are three different stories, "Fun Committee", "The Ghost in the Machine", and "Contact". The second story in this movie "The Ghost in the Machine" is the most enjoyable story. It is the story of Sarita who is a housewife and her husband is in a coma. It is a very true but awkward realization that without his husband Mr. Joshi her and her family's life will be more delightful. The other two stories are not so viable and you can easily skip this. These two stories are very common and there is nothing new in that two stories.

Performance wise Vinay Pathak has done a very good job and Tannishtha Chatterjee has done also a fair job for their role. The direction of the movie is OK but nothing to shout about. background score is good but could have been better.

It is true that it is a movie of mass life and common people in Mumbai city but these types movie are not very appealing for the mass people and regular movie goers. It is made for only rewards and prizes but if you have a chance to watch this, You can try.

I had read about it long back when it released and finally I watched it. It has three stories and the common theme is discontentment and isolation. The title itself represents the theme, "locked in" being it and of course the title alludes to Mumbai. All the stories are essentially fable like and bring out satirical humor or give us food for thought. It's a darkly comic drama film. So there is a corporate employee who has to have 'fun' because that's the mandate. Then a story of a television set and how the family gets hooked to watching a parallel world which counter questions their real life existence. Then the third story about an unattractive woman who receives a letter from a stranger admirer and learns to smile and express herself but is that it or there is more to those letters? You won't get happy ending in these stories. I liked all the three stories but not all of them are fleshed out as consistently as they could have. The second story which seemed least impressive on story level in fact is the best fleshed out one. But overall it's a very good watch and a fine little gem in Hindi cinema that has been overlooked.

The amazing first story makes the mockery of the corporate world, it showcases the herd mentality of people, who'll do whatever is being told, without questioning, as asking questions would receive a backlash, so it leads to funny climax, a dark humor at the face of it.

The second story showcases how entertainment and media eases day to day pain, also it shows how engrossed one can get with it. It also shows that in a relationship, be with wife, mother or children, if there is no love, or excessive control, then they won't stand by you.

The last story is bit complicated to explain. It showcases that one shouldn't expect better then what one is having, there are flaws in everyone, however, the protagonist looks at the flaws of a person and not the love he is having for her.

The message each part gives is real good, however these messages didn't came out directly and difficult to comprehend, except in the first part.

1. Best interrelated movie. 2. You can take or understand the movie in several ways. 3. You can shuffle the 3 model of stories in any order. 4. Reality is shown but hard to accept. 5. Perfect trilogy. 6. Best of best.

The movie has a deep philosophical undertone to it.The movie has the courage to ask the audience in the form of stories the deep questions of life.

All the three stories challenged the audience to inquire about the nature of reality and its relationship with human senses and brain. Some deep question were : What makes us enjoy our life? What makes us sad? Can someone enjoy forced fun? Can TV serial story, an imaginary story affect a real story of life. Is love true?

The acting is superb.The background music is very good.The editing and photography is superb.