Review : Life in a metro

Rating : Good (4/5)
Genre : Drama
Year : 2007
Running time : 2 hours
Director : Anurag Basu
Cast : Shilpa Shetty, Shiney Ahuja, Kaykay Menon, Konkona Sen Sharma, Dharmendra, Nafisa Ali Sodhi, Sharman Joshi, Irfan Khan, Manoj Pahwa, Kangana Ranaut

LIFE IN A METRO : SMART, SLICK AND SATISFYING

Lately we have had a flurry of Hindi films which attempt to weave together multiple story lines. Metro is another. It’s slickly made, delves just enough into the story lines to get us involved, and etches out the characters superbly. Of course it doesn’t hurt the film any to have an impeccable star cast, or an absolutely gorgeous soundtrack.

The stories are interconnected (like in Crash). Everyone’s a friend, co-worker, relative etc. Shikha (Shilpa) and Ranjeet (Kaykay) are an unhappily married couple with a young daughter. Ranjeet is having an affair with sub-ordinate-at-work Neha (Kangana), while Rahul (Sharman) who’s apartment they are using for their trysts, and who’s also in love with Neha looks on helplessly. Neha rooms together with flat-mate Shruti (Konkona) who’s also Shikha’s younger sister. Shruti, is approaching 30, is still single but actively looking. When she meets Monty (Irfan) via a matrimonial website, he definitely doesn’t fit the profile of the prince she’s looking for.

Shikha visits her old dance teacher Shivani (Nafisa Ali) regularly in an old age home, and there, is witness to the re-blooming of a 40-year old romance between Shivani and her lost love Amol (Dharmendra). Shikha also meets actor Aakash (Shiney) and they develop feelings for each other. Meanwhile Neha attempts suicide after a fight with Ranjeet, in Rahul’s apartment, and Shruti is on the brink of having her prince-on-a-white-steed illusions shatter. And Rahul must decide between the twin dilemmas of love and money.

The surprise package of this film was Shilpa. I was quite taken aback to see that the woman can act. And how! Definitely her finest work to date, Shilpa IS unhappy housewife Shikha to the core. Kaykay and Shiney have proved their mettle again and again, so one expects nothing but the best from them. And they deliver. Kangana Ranaut has a different look as Neha although her character does have shades of the depressive/psychotic (how come she always lands these roles ?) Sharman appears on the big screen again after Rang de basanti and is just as endearing here. Konkona needs no introduction – she’s the best of the lot. Save Irfan Khan who’s just a tad better. Impossible, I know, but he really is that perfect as Monty. Nafisa Ali is as graceful as ever, and as for Dharmendra – oh, the slowly fading charm of an aging Greek God. Their old world romance got me all teary-eyed.

I’d be amiss if I didn’t sing praises of the sound-track too. “In dino” which is busting up the Hindi charts is a slow number, and the crowning glory of the album. “Alvida” and the almost playful “Baatein kuch ankahee si” are 2 other soulful melodies. Sometimes you hear songs before you see the film, and although you didn’t like them at first, you tend to like them better after you’ve seen the film. They grow on you. Metro’s music is not of that kind, it doesn’t need a prop to stand tall. The songs by themselves are such jewels you could hear them independent of visuals, and they’d tug at your heart-strings just as much.

Sometimes when watching the usual filmi fare, you wonder if a director with finesse could tell stories better. Anurag Basu (Gangster) is that director. Metro is not a happy film filled with sparkly, sassy people. It’s essentially melancholy, with undertones of friction and strife. It dwells on relationships which have suffered with time and circumstance, until they are so stretched they might just crumble. Basu handles each layer delicately, spinning the strands together until you have a beautifully finished product. In the end, for some people you weep, some tales are just too amusing, and some you shake your head and mutter “Why ? Oh, why ?”.

After quite a while, a truly satisfying film.