Peter Young
Anurag Basu directs Life in a Metro, a fun, dramatic feature which, like such movies as Dil Chahta Hai, attempts to portray the new India. Metro presents several individual stories of mostly young people, and all these stories are intertwined into one movie, which clearly aims to show the real side of the big city of Mumbai with all of its complexities, difficulties and troubled relationships. Each story is presented efficiently, and Basu successfully captures the spirit of the urban city with his range of colourful characters, depicting their modern lifestyle, their trials and tribulations, their dreams, hardships and dilemmas. This depiction is significantly aided by the realistic dialogues and situations, the dark dim atmosphere, the brilliant cinematography, and the narrative style, which is flavoured with wonderful music, great contemporary humour and some breathtakingly shot views of the big city.The film is generally very well developed, though sadly the stories themselves are not particularly original. One story, for one, is an out-and-out copy of the classic gem The Apartment (1960). I was also quite shocked to see that the story of Konkona Sen Sharma, for instance, is given an element similar to the one she had in Page 3 (2005), with one scene being laughably copied from the latter. These, along with other flaws, reduce the movie's quality. Yet, it is still totally watchable and enjoyable. The script gives the film a very authentic feel which, along with some wonderful performances, makes the movie easy to relate to. The film's score is exceptional, and Pritam creates one of the best soundtracks of the year. Songs like "In Dino", "O Meri Jaan", "Rishtey" and "Alvida" are awesome and none of them is actually lip-synced by the actors, which contributes to the film's realism.The acting is generally very good, and some of the performances are excellent. Shilpa Shetty gets a good role and delivers her second-best performance after Phir Milenge. Both films require her to act rather than look sexy and she is so good at it (at both, but I'm referring to the acting here). As Shikha, she is heartfelt and vulnerable and carries her scenes with grace, displaying her character's loneliness and desperation. Shiny Ahuja is convincing as the aspiring actor who falls for Shikha, and their relationship is beautifully portrayed. Kay Kay Menon is very good as Shikha's infidel husband Ranjeet. Kangana Ranaut is a little too loud at points but still effective as Ranjeet's lover Neha, and Sharman Joshi is fine as his ambitious employee who is also in love with Neha. Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali are good in their roles but sadly their story is the least developed and therefore quite forgettable. The finest performances in the movie, along with Shilpa Shetty's one, are unsurprisingly those delivered by Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen Sharma. Khan is amazingly likable and funny as Monty, and Sen Sharma is more than astonishing as Shikha's frustrated and heartbroken sister Shruti, whose personal problems really bring her down but she later finds the strength to move on. Her character is perhaps the most complex in the movie, as she has to play the supportive sister and friend, the wronged woman, and the woman who finally finds the one but is unsure. Her chemistry with Khan is wonderful with their scenes being some of the film's best and wittiest, and yes, the one in which she breaks down while trying to release her tensions by screaming at the top of her lungs on the roof of a high building with Khan's Monty, ultimately screaming her pain out, is really the film's best acted scene.Life in a Metro is not without its flaws, and the fact that some parts of it lack originality really get on the nerves. That said, it is interesting and has many great moments of moving drama and funny comedy. The film will be mainly remembered in years to come for its rather different portrayal of the big city, its music, and some of its performances, all of which make it an altogether worthy picture.
Ajit Mahadevan
Inspired by Love Actually and that genre of storytelling, "Life in a Metro" is a sometimes insightful and sometimes predictable movie that is well worth a watch for its performances. The narrative featuring Kay Kay and Shilpa Shetty is genuine with many insightful comments -Shilpa Shetty's about the "deafening silences in marriages", the interesting question of which between physical or emotional infidelity is worse. Kay Kay's character of being a loving father who is adored by his daughter was a further dose of realism. Nothing is black and white. Special mention to both Kay Kay and Shilpa Shetty (didn't realise she had it in her) for really pulling it off. Shiny Ahuja is adequate without being special.The other narratives were more predictable. Sharman Joshi and Kangana Raut - which is sort of a take off from "The Apartment" with Jack Lemmon and "For Love or Money" with Michael J Fox. So were Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali as the loving elder couple.The track with Konkona Sen and Irfan is very entertaining. Irfan Khan is outstanding - an adjective one has started to use very often with him. Konkona adequate. However the circumstances make for some genuinely funny moments. Konkona as the 30 year old virgin dying to be with her idea man and Irfan - as about the most unlikely of men she could ever see herself with.While I would not go so far as to herald this movie as either a path-breaking or life-altering Hindi movie (as some of the more dramatic leanings have suggested), I would say it is well worth a watch. It has a good music track - but could have done without the really hairy guy singing, as we changed from one narrative to the other.
sandhirflora
It should rather be titled "Love life in a Metro" or more appropriate " Loveless Life in a Metro". Multiple stories, Multiple tracks and common problem is "Love', especially "illegitimate" or "imperfect" love. The approach is nothing new and result was a disaster in earlier films-Kabhi Alvida Na Kehna, Salaam E Ishq etc. But here the circumstances, the ambiance is treated with panache making audience relate to the stories and therefore it succeeds. The film is able to catch the pulse of the city quite well for example how monsoon plays a role in getting otherwise reluctant people take notice of others etc. is all quite vibrant. The pace is fast, crisp and handling is taut. The way the songs are used in the form of a rock band with source of songs shown on screen is all very innovative. Another success in films dealing with realistic themes is when they are shot well and here once again Cinematographer Bobby Singh scores. But overall the magic and charisma of Director Anurag Basu in his previous, the superbly crafted Gangster is missing here. First half itself completes the story. Therefore somehow the film is not able to sustain its momentum in the second half and that becomes rather predictable. All lead actors have performed well. Dharminder-Nafisa Ali's love story is under-developed. Shilpa Shetty came across as Ms. Goody two shoes, a custodian of morality and her husband Kaykay as MCP Monster size, so there is some mismatch evident in characterization. My observation- A Wife stylishly dress in designer Kurtis and frocks whose top executive husband travels by business class, pays an EMI of 40K per month for flat, will rarely travel by a bus or a local train. My take is it would have been okay if the film left open ended without resolving the individual crises. The way Irrfan-Konkana 's story resolved is complete bollywood and out of place. Even the way Kangana runs out of a car has more drama than reason. Overlooking all this, nevertheless, it is a sensible cinema though not great but thought-provoking, relevant, contemporary and above all refreshing.
