What happens when a poor man from a village looks for a job in a city? What happens when he takes his family and settles down in metro-crowded-noisy city? One can never expect that anything will go absolutely right under his way. There goes a tremendous change in momentum of life and your initial steps are temporary hiccups to accept the changing circumstances over noisy and mad city. Making a movie on it may appeal some positive responses as the viewer takes the movie as something-about-to-happen experience. The movie-makers often make a comedy movie over rural-turn-urban life experience. But some become a socioeconomic subject for critical awareness to make you think how some of us taste such tragic encounters of life-changing gears. Migrated people always have that luck!
That’s what happened couple of years ago when Sean Ellis made a British movie about a Filipino couples who had a land-migrating life-changing tragic experience from one part of Philippines to the other. The movie was ‘Metro Manila‘ that was Britain’s official entry for Best Foreign-Language Film at 86th Academy Awards last year.
Metro Manila was an inspiration movie which reached to the doors of Indian movie industry. Citylights is produced under the banners of Vishesh Films and is official Indian remake of Metro Manila. Hansal Mehta was picked for the direction and the production of movie cost only ₹7 crore. Cast includes Rajkummar Rao (Love Sex aur Dhokha, Kai Po Che, Shahid), Manav Kaul and Rajkummar’s real-life girlfriend Patralekha. Set up is a poor young family of Rajasthan who migrates to Mumbai for money, better job and better future. Traveling all over from Rajasthan relying on one of close friend who never shows his face are all alone, homeless and self-dependent struggling to settle in crazy-life of Mumbai.
Hansal-Rajkummar collaborates as director-actor for the second time after critical acclaimed movie Shahid. Director put all faith in viewers to promise yet another splendid movie with powerful performances by Rajkummar and Manav Kaul.
Rajkummar Rao is one amazing Haryana-born acting talent who always mesmerizes you with any role he plays. His characters are challenging. Since 2013, he is in magnificent form and picking very selective movies to bring a lot of critical attention among the movie pundits, journalists and sensible moviegoers. Citylights is his 3rd critical acclaimed performance after Kai Po Che and Shahid. As compared to KPC and Shahid, this role is more tougher. This character is more broken and shattered, and his migration with young wife and little daughter becomes a curse. Lost in the citylights, he is compromised with the naked truth that poverty is a disease and and every honest man is to be stripped. There are many high points in the movie and truly the most powerful scene is when he is drunk and return to his wife.
Citylights is an absolute portray of betrayal and gear-shift morale-collapsing tragic life-story. It is an emotional roller-coaster and depiction of fake-expectation of something called ‘Ray of Hope’ where survival is not in your fate. You are supposed to fell down from your own roof. One of best movies of 2014. Thumbs up for Hansal-Rajkummar partnership!
RATING: 8.8/10
Sami Naik | Film Critic 