Life In A Metro

Director: Anurag Basu
Producer: Ronnie Screwvala
Starring: Shilpa Shetty, Shiney Ahuja, Kay Kay Menon, Sharman Joshi, Kangana Raut, Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Gautam Kapoor
Music Dir: Pritam Chakraborty
Singer: Soham Chakrabarthy, K K, James, Suhail Kaul, Pritam Chakraborty, Adnan Sami

One Film, Countless Characters! Immeasurable Aspirations! How to accommodate them with ease in two and half hour packing? Does 'Life in a...Metro' deliver what it promises? Does this multiple-character episodic entertainer break the jinx of "failure"? Yes! The film succeeds to a large extent and this clearly shows the directorial prowess of the Basu who made history by delivering the biggest hit ('Murder') of the year in the form of erotic thriller. In short, Hollywood's 'Love Actually' finally has made its presence felt in the style and form of 'Life in a...Metro'.
A pivotal episodic entertainer carrying the load of bankable and reliable names makes major dent at the marquee after series of supreme episodic film disasters. After Khalid Mohammad ('Silsilay'), Naseeruddin Shah ('Yun Hota to Kya Hota'), Vikram Bhatt ('Life Mein Kabhi Kabhi') and Nikhil Advani ('Saalam-e-Ishq'), it's time for hot "n" happening Anurag Basu to make his best shot at episodic entertainer featuring multiple storylines and characters. After introspecting into gory and outrageous gangster stories and extra-marital affairs, Basu's directorial skills wander from Madhur Bhanderkar's 'Page 3' to urbane 'Corporate'. It was more an excellence of execution than his creative intellect that brought him laurels in films like 'Gangster' and 'Murder'. 'Life in a...Metro' proves to be an acid test for him as a story teller as well as a technician who has graduated from TV serials to erotic thrillers.
This time Basu sounds philosophical and his theory connects with average multiplex viewer. In hot pursuit of achieving phenomenal we end up losing something significant in our life. Besides, the search for something special goes on but we end up losing precious time that we spend in its search. The "metropolitan" or "metro" life has given us all but has provided us with bridges of illusions, aspirations, resentment and frustration that tear us apart. 'Life in a...Metro' brings out spectrum of vivid lifestyles that are full of countless emotions. The characters we see, feel, live, enjoy and experience gets into real flesh and blood.
The film justifies the fact that in episodic entertainers, the actors should be treated as "characters" and not mere saleable products. The film brings multiple storylines and all these tracks mingle with each other. The highlight is the theme that gets projected in every emoted sentiment and it's the bunch of talented actors who make it a worthy show. Like Madhur Bhanderkar's 'Page 3' and 'Corporate', the film wears a realistic attitude and works on real characters. The film projects the conniving and shrewd "Office" politics in glossy BPO's and Call Centers where every success is manipulated. The ladder of success starts off with sexual favors, scheming attitudes and sycophantic views over demanding intellect. Anurag Basu's perceptions have well been translated into effective screenplay and "make to believe" characters that bind them well in one package.
'Life in a...Metro' has multiple storyline that ranges from old age couples to highly ambitious executives. It is a story of Amol (Dharmendra) and Shivani (Nafisa Ali) who unite after forty years of separation. Their world has changed but love still blossoms in them. Loyalty! It's a story of over ambitious Rahul (Sharmaan Joshi) who wants to own expensive camera phone, eat pizzas and desires every desirable luxury. In order to make aspirations come true, the poor chap has to launder his room for his seniors for their physical pleasures.
Besides these materialistic desires, he nurses love for his companion Neha (Kangana Ranaut), a shrewd socialite who lures his boss Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon) to bed for promotion. Ambition! Ranjeet lives a deserted marital life where he faces fights with his wife Shikha (Shilpa Shetty). Shikha, an isolated and frustrated housewife finds love and affection in the friendship of Akash (Shiney Ahuja), a struggling stage artiste. Attraction! Finally, there is a spice of humor and relief in the form of love chemistry that erupts between simple and straightforward Shruti (Konkona Sen Sharma) and happy-go-lucky Debu alias Monty (Irfan Khan). Shruti, the simple Bengali girl, surfs net for desirable life partner and lands up meeting Monty. The first meeting proves hilariously depressing for Monty as he gets rejected. The love finally erupts in the climax where Monty chases her to railway station with his horse on his wedding day amidst all hustles and bustles. Love (or Affection? )! Ambition! Sex! Lust! Passion! Desire! Stress! Loyalty! Romance! Love! All such emotions that erupt from fast paced urbane life show their sharp edges in every frame of the film.
Irfan Khan-Konkona Sen scenes are witty, humorous and tickle funny bones in both halves of the film. The scene where he discloses his real age (38) and Konkona describing her reasons for rejecting him are worth viewing. The film shows comical flair of Irfan Khan for the first time as he is being stereotyped as a serious actor for years. Konkona Sen Sharma gets into her 'Page 3' act again as she shares her dreams, desires and hopes with her roommate socialite friend (Kangana Ranaut). The scenes where she asks about pre-mature sex from Shilpa, shows her disgust at society while screaming and the scene where she confronts gay relationship of her fiancée (Gautam Kapoor) shows the brighter side of actress. Films like 'Page 3', 'Omkara' and now 'Life in a...Metro' show her prowess of a method actor and deserves applause for her performance. Shilpa Shetty's performance is a complete revelation as she matures into the cadre of serious actress after series of brainless glossy roles. After Revathy's 'Phir Milenge', she has matured as an actress in the role of distressed housewife attracted towards younger man (Shiney Ahuja). The film provides her author-backed roles that would rejuvenate her doomed acting career.
The actress emotes appreciably in the scenes where she discloses her affair to his husband (Kay Kay Menon), the scene depicting her isolated feeling at railway station and finally the long shot (brilliant camerawork shot with Red monochromatic shades) exhibiting her sensuous scene with Shiney Ahuja. Kay Kay lives another role that he once played in 'Corporate' and delivers it with perfection. Kay Kay excels as manipulative, lecherous but depressed character who schemes out other's success at the behest of his lust. The cunning character needed a proficient actor like him and he delivers it with flair.
The scene where he discloses his affair with Kangana to Shilpa is worth viewing. The scene where he confronts Sharmaan Joshi for his misdeeds in the office and finally landing himself in another place is also a high point of his acting skill. Sharmaan Joshi makes another impressive performance after 'Rang De Basanti' and the film shows his growth as a mature actor. His superb comical timing plus his improvised acting skills make him a fine choice for the role. Kangana Ranaut delivers an average performance as she plays a manipulative executive who illusions love for lust. Kangana wears plastic expressions that she carries throughout the film. There are a couple of scenes where she could have excelled but the other actress proved too dominating for this porcelain beauty. Kangana-Kay Kay track ends up abruptly as she lands up with Sharmaan Joshi with no major reasoning.
Shiney Ahuja gets a meatier role this time from the director who made him prize worthy in his last venture 'Gangster'. Shiney has tiny role and gets relegated as a rejected husband-turned-obsessed lover in the film that was based on realistic attitudes of materialistic "metro" life. Except for long sensuous scene with Shilpa there are not many occasions when the viewers could have felt his presence in the film. Finally, the film holds surprises in the form of veteran and legendary Dharmendra, who makes impressive comeback in the role of a long lost lover. This evergreen superstar's performance forms the crux of the film. It was a pleasurable experience in viewing Dharmendra in a sensible role after his brilliant performances in Hrishikesh Mukherjee's film. It seems Anurag Basu holds a long affection with all Hrishida's movies featuring Dharmendra as this may be one big reason for placing him in a pivotal role. Nafisa Ali ages gracefully with her elderly act of an aging woman waiting for her long lost lover.
Pritam's highly spirited and rollicking hard rock music really zooms into senses and viewers can feel its pulse after leaving theatres. The songs show "Band Metro" (Pritam, Suhail, James and Soham) singing in every different situation of the film. This may be inspired from European style of filmmaking but surely it blends with feel and sentiments of the situations in the film. The song "In Dino", "Alvida", "Baatein Kuch Ankahee" and "Kar Saalam" are well placed in the film and emotes out the inhibited sentiments of the characters. Cinematography (Bobby Singh) finely captures the feel of "Mumbai" city in the scenes which show the skyscraping ambitions of the characters. Like 'Murder', there is a fine mixing of background score, sound mixing and cinematography that develops the desired feel in all the sequences.
Director Anurag Basu deserves all applause for attempting a difficult genre of episodic film with great success. Besides being an efficient storyteller, he is shrewd filmmaker as he has rested this project on UTV Motion Pictures than the Bhatt camp for its big star cast and budget. The film will garner positive word of appreciation overseas from Shilpa's dream run of success in "Big Brother" show. The film will score maximum in multiplexes and will be above average in single screen theatres.