Life in a...Metro
INTRODUCTION
Released in 2007, Life in a… Metro was way ahead of its time. It’s a movie of 4 short stories of people living in a Metro City and their struggles to achieve their dream. The movie touched upon extra marital affair, an old couple romance and also gay relationships. The movie is loosely inspired by the Hollywood movie – The Apartment(1960). With such an ensembled cast comprising of Irfan Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kay Kay Menon, Shiny Ahuja, Kangana Ranaut, Dharmendra, Nafisa Ali – is the movie worth a watch, stay tuned.
STORY & SCREENPLAY
Anurag Basu did a commendable job of weaving stories of six characters and not letting us get lost in the crowd at the same time. All characters are interrelated and yet so unique. Shilpa Shetty, Kay Kay Menon, Shiney Ahuja, Sharman Joshi and Kangana Ranaut story revolves around extra marital affair angle though the climax is not the usual one. The performance by each actor is so natural that you can feel the pain and connected at few instances.
The Irfan Khan and Konkona story is a light hearted one which depicts the conventional traits of an arranged marriage set up. Their pairing is fresh and brings up light to a intense story otherwise and balances the act altogether. My only complain from this story is that Konkona got the same cheat boyfriend who is a gay which seems liked a copied scene from Page 3.
Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali story is another heartwarming story wherein both are old and fighting loneliness. Though its pleasant to watch the couple the story seems a bit misfit and didn’t fit with any other subplots. Maybe it was added to cover love across age groups. Nonetheless this track is nice and sweet.
One thing that didn’t fit well was the climax scene which seemed to be a forced one. Getting all the protagonist meet at the station. Having said that, balancing 6 characters becomes a tough task.
DIALOGUES, MUSIC & DIRECTION
Dialogues are relevant to the plot and emotions of the story.
Music is composed by Pritam. Director gave it a musical drama look and Pritam along with Suhail Kaul and the Bangladeshi singer James performed songs in the movie. The music was highly appreciated and the soundtrack was among highest-grossing. The album has variety of songs that can touch every emotion of yours – love, heartbreak, joy, nostalgia. It would be difficult to pick a favorite but I would go with “In Dino”, “Baatein Kuch Ankahee Si” and “O Meri Jaan”
Performances
Performances are strong and intense. Konkana Sen Sharma, Shilpa Shetty and Irrfan Khan’s performances were awarded also. I personally even liked Shiney Ahuja’s and Kangana Ranaut performance. Though Kangana’s performance reminds us in the similar lines of Gangster but it has a very naïve touch in it.
Sharman Joshi and Kay Kay Menon performances are pretty good too given for the screen time they had.
Conclusion
You can give it a try for its music, performances or to connect with life in general! Available on Netflix.
Disclaimer: The above review solely illustrates the views of the writer.