City Lights
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Patralekha,
Manav Kaul
Director: Hansal Mehta
Verdict: 8/10
Read on:
After Deepak loses his
small owned business in the deserts of Rajasthan, he decides to move to Mumbai.
He hopes to make a better life for himself & his family. His family
consists of a beautiful wife & a small daughter. Soon after they arrive in the
city, Deepak is robbed off 10 grand by a landlord of a building. He is thrown
out of the apartment with nowhere to go and no food to feed his family. He
later manages to rent out a 3BHK in an under construction high rise building.
After looking for work
everywhere, he lands himself a job as a security officer to transport valuables
of the rich from one destination to another. However, according to his office
rules, he would be paid only after the month would be over. In the meantime, to
make ends meet his supportive wife takes up a job as a bar dancer & runs
their home temporarily in the hope that once her husband gets paid she will
leave it. This difficult period also includes a time when she gets slapped by
the bar owner for demanding her own hard earned money.
The sudden turn of
events takes you by silent storm; Deepak’s partner lures him into stealing a
box filled with valuables from the office. This is where the plot thickens to
its climax. The box is detonated with a bomb that blasts if you try to break it
open without the key.
Greed makes Deepak’s
partner crazy enough to force the poor man into this hideous & death taking
crime. Predictably then the man does die but Deepak comes off it a winner. He
manages to steal the key to the box, dies a martyr who saves his family by
securing them with the box full of money; which in the end helps his family to
return back to their village.
What the movie teaches
in the end is not that the couple got what they had come to the city for. But
that; despite of getting the money, Deepak had to give his life, his wife had
to become a widow & an ex-bar dancer in the bargain!
It’s a simple story of
millions of migrants who dare to step foot in the city everyday wishing they
can make it big in the city of dreams. Whether or not these people are heard,
each writes an unforgettable story in the unforgiving diary of our great
Shanghai.
The music of the film
has songs like ‘Muskurane ki wajah tum ho’ & ‘Darbadar’ that narrate the
harsh city life brilliantly.
Director Hansal Mehta
deserves a round of applause for casting Rajkumar Rao & Patralekha as the
lead characters of the film. He has very cleverly exploited the basic
dimensions of good actors’ capabilities to portray harsh-emotional vulnerabilities
with the most delicate tact. Their acting is flawless and suits the script of
the film.
The film in its depth is
very simple & doesn't offer a dynamically different story line, not
something you haven’t come across before. However, it’s a must watch if you
want to sit back & simply observe the dilemma of such people with clear
direction & a wave less sea of thoughts put together in a beautifully
carved simple yet hard hitting story line.
Now that kind of ‘clear
water’ film with a strong messaging has never been done in Hindi cinema before
so go & don’t miss out on this one all you literati.
Mahesh Bhatt proves
again his mettle in exploring the best out of a good script & actors.
Watch good movies
always,
Rockkomilla
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