ALL 'Life in a...Metro' Review HERE ONLY

By Taran Adarsh, May 11, 2007 - 01:00 IST

The trend of narrating multiple stories in Hindi films continues. SALAAM-E-ISHQ, HONEYMOON TRAVELS PVT. LTD., JUST MARRIED: MARRIAGE WAS ONLY THE BEGINNING and LIFE MEIN KABHIE KABHIEE, all 2007 films, tackled multiple stories in those 2.30/3.30 hours.

METRO charters a new path because the multiple stories run concurrently. Also, the characters are, in some way, linked with each other.

With METRO, director Anurag Basu proves for the third time [after MURDER and GANGSTER] that he's an incredible storyteller. The complexities in relationships, the shortcuts one adopts in life to attain the goals and the corrosion of ethics and values have been depicted most convincingly.

Yet, METRO is no landmark film. It doesn't sweep you off your feet…

Write your own movie review of Life in a... Metro

If Anurag Basu, the director, deserves brownie points as a storyteller, Anurag Basu, the writer, is just not in terrific form this time around. Reason: The culmination of a few stories, besides the unique concept of using the 'Metro Band' in every song, prevent the film from reaching dizzy heights.

Rahul [Sharman Joshi] works as a call centre executive in Mumbai. He silently loves his colleague Neha [Kangana Ranaut]. A smart young woman who has climbed the ladder in a very short time. And hard work is not her only secret. Because her boss, Ranjeet [Kay Kay Menon], loves her and is willing to shower her with gifts and opportunities… only if she is willing.

In his 30s, Ranjeet is married to Shikha [Shilpa Shetty] with a 6-year-old daughter. They had decided that she should stay back at home and take care of the house and the kid. Ranjeet ventured out on his quest for money and success… and forgot his family somewhere on the way. And bitterness and boredom crept into their relationship. Soon he found solace and a fresh lease of life in Neha.

Neglected by an indifferent husband and bogged down by family chores, Shikha is soon attracted to Akash [Shiney Ahuja], a struggling theatre artist whose wife divorces him because she cannot stand his failures anymore. Akash and Shikha's love blossoms and she almost crosses her limits.

Amol [Dharmendra] is a 70-year-old man who returns to India after 40 years. To spend the last few years of his life with his first love, Vaijanti [Nafisa Ali]. The lady lives in an old-age home and is Shikha's aunt who gives moral strength to Shikha.

Shikha's sister and Neha's room-mate, Shruti [Konkona Sen Sharma], works at 'Radio Mirchi'. In her 30s and still a virgin, she's desperate to get married. She is dreamy eyed about her RJ, Wishy K [Gautam Kapoor]. She also meets Debu [Irrfan Khan] through a matrimonial site. She hates him. But Debu doesn't.

Now let's have a microscopic view of what works and what doesn't…

Director Anurag Basu's handling of a few dramatic and emotional moments is exemplary. Dharmendra's introduction at the railway station, the tense moments between Kay Kay and Shilpa, the entire track featuring Irrfan and Konkona including the sequence on the rocks [after they've shopped for Irrfan's wedding] and the sequence when Shiney and Shilpa are about to get physical are portions that register a strong impact.

Also, the handling of the multiple stories concurrently is praiseworthy, for not once does confusion prevail since so much is happening to so many characters.

On the flip side, the culmination of a few stories looks hurried and half-baked. The Dharmendra - Nafisa Ali story deserved a better conclusion. The one depicted in the film is so filmy! Similarly, Kangana suddenly realizing that she needs to be with Sharman in the end [she leaves Kay Kay stranded] looks unbelievable.

The culmination to the Shilpa - Kay Kay story is ludicrous. Shilpa is about to leave her home when the door bell rings and she finds her husband [Kay Kay] staring at her. He seems repentant and one assumes he has returned home on a rebound [Kangana has dumped him]. Surprisingly, Shilpa goes back to the heartless guy, bidding goodbye to Shiney, who genuinely loves her. Wrong ending!

Another area where the film suffers is that each and every song has the 'Metro Band' coming up from nowhere and humming the lines. Agreed, they are good singers and using the Band in a song or two would've been okay, but every song? They're such a terrible put-off! Besides, the music [Pritam] is strictly okay.

METRO is embellished with superior performances, with Shilpa, Kay Kay, Irrfan and Konkona vying for top honors. Shilpa delivers her finest performance thus far, much better than her work in PHIR MILENGE. In fact, this performance needs to be remembered when the 'Bests of 2007' are compiled during the year-end. Kay Kay is exceptional. You hate him, detest his very sight, all thanks to a terrific portrayal.

Irrfan is the life of the show. You're bound to run out of adjectives to describe this performance. He's sure to appeal to every strata -- elite, intellectuals, classes, masses, kids… Konkona compliments Irrfan beautifully all through. A brilliant performance yet again. Dharmendra is simply superb. He makes you moist-eyed at several places. Sharman Joshi underplays his character beautifully.

Kangana is not in form this time. Shiney Ahuja is passable. He deserved a few more meaty scenes. Nafisa Ali is grace personified. Gautam Kapoor is adequate. Manoj Pahwa is okay.

On the whole, METRO could've been a path-breaking experience, but the faulty writing throws a spanner. At the box-office, the film caters to the multiplexes of big cities mainly. The initial weekend business will be encouraging at select metros, but things might get shaky eventually.

UK based DAILY TELEGRAPH hails METRO

Joginder Tuteja, Bollywood Trade news Network

Anurag Basu is busy with his globe trotting for the multiple premiers of his latest film LIFE IN A...METRO.

Elated at the response that his film has gained in it's UK premier, he says, "It was phenomenal to see the way UK people responded to the film. They came in hordes and hordes and even though we were expecting a good response, this was something that even we had never dreamt of."

But he would have certainly expected a storm of a kind considering the fact that Shilpa is a household name now in UK. "Fair point, but to see so many Brits come forward to support the movie is quite overwhelming, isn't it?" he confesses.

So how has the media reacted to the film? "It has been generally quite good so far. I have been told that DAILY TELEGRAPH has given it a 3 star rating with some flattering remarks to boost the film further. In Dubai too the response was heartwarming.

With the entire world waking up to the film, how is he feeling as the film releases today? "Well, it has been some real hard labor that has gone into making this film. Effort put by anyone involved has to be witnessed to be believed. I am sure each of the actors in the movie would be noticed for the work they have put into the project and the way these characters have emerged on the screen."

There's Something About Metro

Raja Sen

May 11, 2007 16:13 IST

Anurag Basu returns to the big screen with India's first well-crafted multi-narrative film, after more than a dozen directors have burnt their hands trying to go all Amores Perros on our unsuspecting audiences. Metro is a crisp, smartly made film featuring a well-tuned ensemble cast and an appropriate soundtrack. Overall, it works.

But, there's something a bit jarring about it, something that doesn't go down too well. And I can't quite put my finger on it.

Maybe...

Maybe it's the fact that the basic story track -- the Kay-Kay/Kangna/Sharman mess at the heart of the film -- comes straight from Billy Wilder's 1960 classic, The Apartment. While the Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine masterpiece is a comedy, Metro takes its cues and premise, choosing to brood instead. This is a deep, melancholy film about real characters, and while the situations on this track directly echo Wilder, it's more bitter than sweet in Basu's hands. To his credit, the director handles it well, neatly using some fine actors to stretch dramatic tension to the fullest.

Maybe it's Kangna Ranaut's accent, for one can't really complain about the pretty, interesting actress. The pert young thing is, incredibly, both refreshing as a daisy and darkly compelling as a vampire, and manages to herd her emotions well, playing a complex role but hardly ever overreaching. This is an unconventionally talented actress moving up steadily, and her straight-hair-n-specs look will win her even more fans. Her English makes you wince, but then you look around, and it's like women from Mumbai, and we meet them all the time. Chalk it up to realism. Sigh.

Maybe it's the Metro band, which often enters the scene abruptly. A few favoured musical collaborators -- composer Pritam leads the group, and (it is rumoured) Basu slaps the drumskins himself -- act as sutradhars, a la the Farrelly Brothers film mentioned in this piece's title. And while the rocky ballads work well enough in furthering the story, they try to bridge too ambitious a divide by singing for all the characters, and the audience. Mr Lyricist, the call here is for narrative, not universality. Still, points for originality.

Maybe it's because the stories, in themselves, seem commonplace. While Basu joins the dots unambiguously during his first act, making it clear that this is no coming-together-of-random-people film, there are shades of predictability to each story arc. The Shilpa/Shiney story is almost humdrum; the Konkona/Irrfan story is obvious romcom; and, as mentioned, the others are a Hollywood comedy, soured. And it is here that the filmmaker goes clever, creating excellently-etched, relatably real characters and casting them flawlessly, taking away yet another cause for complaint.

Maybe it's the inevitable envy Dharmendra makes us feel, with a touching, tender portrayal in the warmest and most irresistible of the film's arcs, a simple romance with the gracefully timeless Nafisa Ali. Not just do we long for the studly actor of years gone by, but we chastise ourselves for having forgotten him, and ' while thoroughly charmed by his talk about fish and his strapping, single-handed desire to weld the city's impossible traffic his way ' as men, we're plain jealous.

Maybe it's because when Shiney Ahuja asks if Shilpa Shetty loves her husband, the actress replies 'haan,' her Hindi smacking you right between the eyes. The script definitely needed a couple more coats of honing. While Basu's fleshed out his characters very well, there are moments of either a complete predictability or a predictable defiance, the obvious way of going against the grain. Conceded, it is indeed hard writing such a mixed genre film -- rom-com, melodrama, slice-of-life, tragedy, whimsy -- but there are moments the words make you wince, slightly. It's a Hindi-English film (with a smidgeon of Bangla) and there are elements of dumbing-down, of sharp dialogue sadly blunted by explanatory replies or additions.

Maybe it's the fact that, in a film full of flawed, real people, we end up liking them all too darned much. Shilpa's character is a doormat, mustering up all her courage to fib about going to the theatre. She neglects her kid frequently, is easily guilt-tripped, and even a bit of a tease. Yet, trapped in that to-die-for body and that great smile, we love her. This is her best-ever performance, nuanced and real, raw enough to feel. And the stunner is in great company. Kay Kay makes a superb scoundrel, Sharman is the guy sitting in the next cubicle, and Konkona can't seem to help herself, a compulsive, absolute scene-stealer.

Maybe it's because this is Anurag's film, and we wanted more. Basu's undeniably emerging as one of the most exciting filmmakers in the country, a solid, high-drama pro who skillfully blurs the line between realistic and filmy, and works in a killer soundtrack while at it. He's a distinctive storyteller with a remarkable gift for restraint, and good enough to make us nitpick: Anuragda, in the 'red' scene, shouldn't the lighting have been a little inconsistent? Anuragda, shouldn't Shiney have had a bit more meat? As audiences, we overreach because we demand more from Basu. He seemed truer to himself with Gangster. Here, the rock-lover also fingers both clich'd score and operatic arias, and like the background score, the film keeps hitting the occasional bum note.

Maybe that's because the film makes us laugh. This is a serious film, aimed at profound truths and commonplace reality, but sometimes (bringing us back to the script-tuning issue, but this time we're talking over-tuned) the lines are too quick, too deadpan, too good to be true. So there are giggles and snickers in the theatre, even when not intended. Maybe it's just that Wilder's script has a comic soul, and even if we don't see spaghetti strained on a tennis racket here, it's still, essentially, funny.

And maybe, just maybe, it's because there isn't enough Irrfan Khan. Irrfan is marvelous in Metro, the best thing in the film by a long shot. An increasingly special actor, here he goes under the skin of initially-obnoxious, disarmingly-direct Debu, and he rejuvenates the film with every frame he enters. The Irrfan/KoKo track is the film's cleverest, and could have made for a fine film in itself. It's a filmy, absurd, effective story of two un-soulmates, and one gets the feeling Basu's having more of a ball with this section than the others. While Konkona is awesome, there are moments in Metro you sit back and just wait for Irrfan to show up. Yeah, he's that good.

Actually, yeah, I guess that's just it. The Irrfan bit, that's what's really wrong with Metro. Okay, valid complaint finally found.

Hang on, what's that? What about 'leaving the audience always wanting more?' Damn

Rating: ***1/2

Mayank Shekhar

FILM: Life In A… Metro
DIRECTOR: Anurag Basu
ACTORS: Kay Kay Menon, Shilpa Shetty, Sharman Joshi, Irrfan Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Shiney Ahuja
RANK: ***

There's been more than a dozen since Mani Ratnam's Yuva (or more likely, Alexandro Innaritu's patented Amores Perros). Some entirely forgettable, and of course, unwatchable (Life Mein Kabhi Kabhi, Delhii Heights, Hattrick). Some hard to forget for reasons unintended (Salaam-e-Ishq, Traffic Signal). And just a few compelling enough to entirely merit the long appointment (Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Just Married, Yun Hota Toh Kya Hota). All of them have appeared merely in the past few months or weeks. 'Several pictures for the price of one' is evidently the current Hindi film-ticket formula.

Basu's take on loneliness and ambition in an ever moving, money-minded metropolis is the latest addition to the multi-plot screen genre. There isn't a story here you haven't heard; not a thought that hasn't occurred before. The film eventually attracts your attention still. This is possibly its strongest achievement: an immediate outcome of tight length, and accomplished performances (Joshi, Khan, Sen-Sharma, Shetty, Menon; in particular order of merit).

A married but alone Shikha (Shetty) develops feelings for an insouciant, intense Akash, a struggling theatre actor (Shiney Ahuja). She'd bump into him often at a bus-stop or train station. When they first met, she'd introduced herself as "Mrs Ranjeet Kapoor". Now, she gives him company. He gives her an identity.

Driving around in a cab, she asks why he's single: Did he leave his woman, or did she leave him. "Love left us both," Akash says. Love, it turns out, had left Shikha and her insensitive husband Ranjeet (Menon) as well. They'd first worked hard for Rs 40,000 monthly installments, to buy a 2 BHK house. They couldn't build a home.

Love, on the other hand, could never find two single ready-to-wed lost souls (Khan, Sen-Sharma), desperately searching for partners on Shaadi.com. Love never found a street-smart, super-ambitious, young executive Rahul either (Joshi; an interesting interpretation of Shah Rukh Khan's role in Yes Boss, or Jack Lemmon's part in The Apartment).

Shikha's husband Ranjeet finds lust instead in a young secretary (Kangana Ranaut). She gives him sex; he gives her office comfort and business class tickets. Likewise, Rahul finds professional success among generous bosses. He gives them his uncle's swanky apartment by the night. They give him promotions. Loss is of innocence alone.

Every relationship in a cut-throat city of confused individuals seems a personal or material trade-off. Like all ensemble films, Metro summarily captures the essence of this grim theme; effectively touches the tip of the proverbial ice-berg. If there's Styrofoam beneath the stylish design, we haven't watched enough to confirm.

It's hard enough to lay out and resolve a single plot. When there are more than a few, clearly, most leave you gasping for more, and at least one appears as pointlessly as it disappears into the clouds (an old couple, Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali).

Every minute earned as a result appears an unnecessary excuse to pelt Pritam, the music composer, and his Bong-rock band in black on screen. They repeatedly wail at street corners, to fill up the sumptuous soundtrack. You wonder why they couldn't give us Sharman, Irrfan or Konkona some more instead.

It'd be fair to suggest this a two-hour treat nonetheless. Worth one watch.

mumbai news

Metro - The film opened to a 40% response with multiplexes in Mumbai being much better at 60%+. The reports are fair.

Metro : Movie Review

11th May 2007 22.55 IST
By N. K. Deoshi

Anurag Basu keeps getting better at his job. After a hard-hitting 'Gangster', the skilled filmmaker now comes up with Metro , a realistic and riveting film with cinematic standards at par with international cinema.

In 'Metro', Anurag does convincingly what other filmmakers in Bollywood have been clumsily trying lately. He tells a multi-layered story revolving around several characters. Each story is stacked with another in a meaningful, well thought way. The characters in each story are somehow connected to character(s) in another. And in this way the multi-narrative story moves on, with each subplot complementing the other, until the movie reaches a high point in the end.

On this strong foundation, Anurag puts his directorial skills into action, extracts superb performances from his cast, props it with Pritam's compositions and overall comes up with a tight, technically sound and well-crafted movie.

To begin with, the film has a very properly chosen cast ensemble. Of course, it has no big star (except Shilpa Shetty perhaps) but every actor is cast in a role perfectly suited to him or her.

Shruti ( Konkona Sen Sharma ) is a thirty-year-old girl who is still a virgin and has no love in her life. She meets Debu ( Irrfan Khan ), a possible suitor, but rejects him because of his eccentric straightforwardness. Shruti has a crush on a RJ at the radio centre she works in. But her small fling with him ends with a shocking revelation.

Shikha ( Shilpa Shetty ), Shruti's elder sister, is married to Ranjeet ( Kay Kay Menon ) and has a daughter. There is no love left between Shikha and Ranjeet. Theirs is more like a marriage of compromise.

Ranjeet is the boss in a BPO firm. In the same office works Rahul ( Sharman Joshi ) who lives in his uncle's flat, which is often used by his colleagues and seniors as a joint for having sex. Rahul obliges his seniors because he wants to rise up to managerial levels in his office.

Rahul has a crush on Neha ( Kangana Ranaut ), his colleague. He doesn't know that Neha is in a sexual relationship with Ranjeet, until the day Ranjeet asks Rahul for the key to his flat to 'spend time' with Neha.

On the other hand, there is a series of brief encounters between Shikha and Akash ( Shiney Ahuja ).

Akash is a theatre artist who does his rehearsals next to an Old Age home that Shikha regularly visits to meet her former teacher Shivani (Nafisa Ali).

Dharmendra plays Amol, Shivani's lover from the past who comes back into her life to spend his last days with her.

Meanwhile, Shikha and Akash develop a mutual attraction. Their relationship reaches just on the cusp of crossing the limit when Shikha backs out.

On the other hand, Neha feels 'used' by her boss Ranjeet and tries to commit suicide.

Shruti meets Debu again and they become good friends. But there is a problem. Debu is set to marry another girl.

In this complex tangle, the movie's story seems headed for a stifling stalemate when a timely stimulus is provided by a very small but significant incident that makes the characters realize the importance of following their hearts and not heads.

Thereafter, every complexity is resolved in the mere wink of an eye. Suddenly every character in the story begins to see clearly and puts his or her tangled life straight.

'Metro' is a gripping film but it gets heavy in the second half when the stories in it begin to look more and more commonplace. Thankfully, things don't drag for long. The aforementioned stimuli sets in motion a chain of events that leads to the culmination of the stories.

Among the performances the most impressive come from Irrfan Khan, Shilpa Shetty, Konkona Sen Sharma and Kay Kay Menon. Irrfan, playing the eccentrically frank and friendly guy, provides many joyful moments to the otherwise serious and sombre film. Shilpa surpasses her previous performances with her sensitive portrayal of a conscientious wife attracted towards another man. Shiney Ahuja is strictly okay. Kangana Ranaut plays her part convincingly. Sharman Joshi is impressive. Dharmendra has a tender charm that comes through in every scene he shares with Nafisa Ali.

'Metro' doesn't have a single song picturized on any actor. It is the Metro band (Pritam, James and a third guy) that performs all the songs at regular intervals in the film.

Visually, 'Metro' has a very sleek look. Anurag Basu 's treatment of the story is very realistic and the dialogues sound straight out of life. Most importantly, not once does the emotional turmoil of characters in the film becomes soppy and superficially sentimental.

'Metro' is a beautifully crafted film. It definitely ought to be seen once.

Rating: ***1/2

B.O. update: 'Metro' classes, 'G.B.B.B.' masses

The response to the two films is diverse. METRO has found patronage at multiplexes, while GOOD BOY BAD BOY found its followers at single screens, dominated by masses.

As predicted, the opening of METRO at multiplexes of big cities was better and it picked up during the evening shows. However, the reports are mixed. On the other hand, Emraan Hashmi has a loyal following amongst masses and this reflected in the opening numbers of GOOD BOY BAD BOY at single screens. However, the reports are negative. The question is, will the two movies sustain beyond the initial weekend?

Meanwhile, SPIDER-MAN 3 continues its victorious march in its second weekend. The 8th day [Friday, 11th May] was rock-steady… TA RA RUM PUM has declined considerably… BHEJA FRY is steady on the lower side… VIVAH has opened at a few more centres this Friday. There's no stopping this film!

Cast: Shilpa Shetty, Irrfan Khan, Kay Kay Menon, Konkona Sen Sharma, Kangana Ranaut, Shiney Ahuja, Dharmendra, Nafisa Ali, Sharman Joshi

Direction: Anurag Basu

Easily one of the best films of the year so far, director Anurag Basu's Metro is centred around nine-odd people in Mumbai, who're looking for love and a sense of belonging in the busy, crowded city of Mumbai.

Interestingly, all our nine protagonists are linked to each other in some way, but that you find out as the film unfolds.

Shilpa Shetty and Kay Kay Menon play a couple who have lost the spark in their marriage, thus searching for love in the arms of others.

Sharman Joshi plays a young man, so eager to climb up the corporate ladder that he's willing to compromise on just about anything. Kangana Ranaut is a young girl involved with a married man in a relationship that can best be described as mutually exploitative.

Konkona Sen Sharma is an almost-30 unmarried girl looking for the perfect groom, while Irrfan Khan just can't wait to be married and have sex. Shiney Ahuja is a struggling actor who falls for a married woman, while Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali play an older couple who rekindle an old romance.

Like every good film, the biggest strength of Anurag Basu's Metro is its tight screenplay. Basu doesn't waste time spoon-feeding his audience by giving us every character's back-story, instead he plunges right into the plot and unravels each character as he goes along – it's a lesson that could have benefited Nikhil Advani's Salaam-e-Ishq considerably.

The other reason Metro engages you from the word go, is because it finds humour in everyday life, in what seems like regular situations. Like the scenes between Konkona and Irrfan mostly, which are easily the film's warmest.

Take that scene in the second half where they're sitting by the sea after a shopping expedition. The manner in which Irrfan reacts when he finds out exactly why Konkona had rejected his proposal, and his subsequent attempt to set her up with a friend of his – it's a classic scene and the actors play it out remarkably.

To get a film with a solid plot that's also technically competent has become increasingly rare in Bollywood, but Metro merges content and form so seamlessly.

Bobby Singh's cinematography complements Basu's narrative, he uses his camera to convey the feeling of solitude, desperation, loneliness and joy that the characters feel in a bustling metro like Mumbai.

More than once you'll spot the obvious Wong Kar-Wai influence in the way shots are constructed – like the post-coitus scenes between Kay Kay and Kangana, both wrapped in their bedsheets against the window of an apartment overlooking the skyline. Or that scene in which Shiney Ahuja and Shilpa Shetty get cosy in a dingy flat with no light but the one reflected from the neon-sign outside. Truth is, although borrowed, these moments are strikingly beautiful.

Pritam's soundtrack is easy on the ears and Basu comes with a very imaginative concept of using the band as the narrator, by filming them belt out their tracks as the film unfolds.

It's a clever idea – although borrowed from the Cameron Diaz-hit There's Something About Mary – and it would have been perfect had it been used just once or twice in the film. But having the band pop up for every song just defeats the purpose.

Crisply edited and suitably paced, Metro loses its steam only occasionally when the screenplay veers towards clich. Like that tacky scene in which one of the film's protagonists discovers the true identity of her lover. For one, the scene has already been done before in Page 3, and secondly because it's so unimaginative to have a poster of Brokeback Mountain to make the point.

Another slight hitch is in the track between Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali, which is poignant for the most part, but only once goes over-the-top when the couple elopes on a motorbike.

Barring a few such hiccups, Metro is an immensely enjoyable watch, and much of that credit must go to its cast who perform so proficiently. Dharmendra oozes charm and you almost spontaneously break into an applause when you first see him in the film crossing the railway tracks to be reunited with an old sweetheart.

Kangana Ranaut is surprisingly restrained and her silences give meaning to the inner turmoil her character's feeling. Sharman Joshi springs a pleasant surprise as he effortlessly slips into the role of the conflicted lover.

Then there's Shilpa Shetty who shines as the hurting housewife. Just watch Shilpa in that scene where Shiney urges her to succumb to desire, watch her respond with a mixture of confusion and shame and remorse, it's a terrific performance and unquestionably Shilpa's best to date.

The ones who'll get the loudest applause are Konkona Sen Sharma and especially Irrfan Khan who complement each other perfectly. They give the film it's most enjoyable moments and make the most of their characters.

But if there's one real star of Metro then that's Anurag Basu who proves with this picture that cinema is after all a director's medium. With Murder and Gangster he made a definite mark, and now with Metro he's confirmed that he's one of the smartest directors working in Bollywood today.

I'm going to go with four out of five and two thumbs up for Anurag Basu's Metro, it's a film you must watch. It's original, it's entertaining and it's only two hours long. Don't miss it, you'll regret it if you do.

Rating: 4 / 5 (Very Good!)

Subhash Jha talks about Life In A…Metro

By Subhash K. Jha, May 12, 2007 - 10:38 IST

What's the root- cause of Anurag Basu's obsession with heights? In Murder, Gangster and now Metro, characters are seen hanging down or just lounging from the ledge of vertiginous boundary-less skyscrapers.

In Metro he even gets his resident rock band to climb atop a building and strum those guitars. And when it isn't the music from the strings it's Irrfan and Konkona playing a mess-matched maritally-challenged couple, getting on a rooftop to scream their lungs out.

It's meant to be therapeutic. We'll take Anurag Basu's word for it. God knows, the man knows what he's doing. Metro falters only in parts. Some of the narrative's punctuation marks are over-emphasized. And the spiral of human relationships often seems to replicate Mike Nichols' Closer.

And yes, Billy Wilder's romantic comedy The Apartment serves as a direct reference point for the Kay Kay-Kangana-Sharman Joshi triangle.

But make no mistake, this is a highly original film with a voice that seems to reverberate across a limitless canvas of feelings derived from the juices that flow and irrigate the people in the concrete jungle. You know you are being @#$%& into the lives of characters who are largely losers in the garb of white-collar dreamers, looking for love and warmth in a cold heartless city.

After that dark horse of a film Gangster, chalk up another outright winner for Anurag Basu in Metro. A subtle sly sometimes slight, sometimes heavy look-see at a bunch of characters locked in the throes of infidelity.

Rather than go for a fiery flow, Anurag harnesses his narrative into a fiesta of reined-in feelings , all indicating the birth and growth of a damnation in a city that cares a damn about your sensitivities.

Basu has an incredible eye for performances. Every actor is nearly-flawless in his or her appointed place in the chaos of corroded commitments in the city without pity …Always pithy and witty Metro moves through a laconic labyrinth of laughter and some stifled sobs.

Sanjeev Dutta's dialogues are so indicative of the character's inner world, after a while you aren't listening to what the characters are saying. The dialogues slice right into the characters' hearts and give us an insight into the machinations of a people so busy realizing their dreams , they forget to sleep.

On the negative side, Metro fails to connect us with the characters beyond their love relationships. If they have a life beyond their heart and below their belts, we don't see it.

Metro should be seen as a mellow melancholic sly and sharp look at love and sex in the city. The characters move in and out of some skillfully written scenes. But sometimes you wish they wouldn't invest their emotions in thankless un-productive spirals of bed and break-heart.

In spite of a frail chemistry with the over- earnest toy-boy Shiney Ahuja, Shilpa Shetty gives a nuanced and ruminative performance. Bobby Singh's camera captures Shilpa in agonized silhouettes whispering the ultimate flaks of life. Kay Kay as her insensitive husband has a thankless role that he performs with rare understanding.

While Sharman and Konkona(the latter, disappointingly pale in spite of her chic styling) are surprisingly chemistry-less in their screen relationships, Irrfan and Konkona come across the warmest and most cuddlesome couple of this gamboling jigsaw of life and a 'dearth'. Watch them in the seashore sequence, and savour the rights and wrongs of out their outstanding emotive faculties.

Metro is maneuvered forward by a melee of delicious ideas…. like composer Pritam and his rock band appearing as sutradhars to sing their songs. The rain-motif pelts down on the plot creating pockets of pain desire and longing. Umbrellas never seemed to hide so much .

Ear firmly to the ground, Metro could've done with better editing. Akiv Ali cuts the material brutally …but not deep enough.

Movie Review

Life In A... Metro - Anurag Basu is the film's hero

Exclusive by Joginder Tuteja, IndiaGlitz [Saturday, May 12, 2007>

This is an out and out Anurag Basu film. Period. No if, no but!

For someone who got his first big success with MURDER and followed it up with a much better product GANGSTER, he takes you to a completely different journey called METRO.

And no, let's not even start placing the film into the bracket of episodic films. It would be criminal to do so. Actually it won't be wrong to say that it has become almost fashionable for media to paint a film as episodic since that appears to be the easiest thing to do.

METRO is far more mature and delves into the lives of multiple individuals who are all connected to each other. So the movement here is from one scene to another rather than from story to another. This is where the strength of METRO lies. It's scenes. And it's dialogues.

One has to struggle to remember hard that when was the last time one came across such an utmost original script with excellent never-heard-before dialogues to boost the screenplay further.

Picture this. When 38 year old Irrfan Khan [who likes to be called 35] takes a little younger Konkana Sen to the top of the terrace and vent with a scream, he pats her on the back and says, "Good job, your servicing is done. Now live on with life." Or later in the film, when Konkana finally realizes her love for him, a flabbergasted Irrfan asks with a quizzical expression, "But all the dresses have been made to fit the girl I am about to get married".

Now that's what makes METRO entertaining even though the constant spats of Shilpa-Kay Kay Menon or the serious immersed-in-lust relation of Kay Kay and Kangana make you look forward to what 'worse' could happen next. And in the meanwhile, you know that somewhere round the corner there would be Irrfan and Sharman Joshi who would lighten up the screen every time they appear.

Sharman has always been adorable. Here he actually makes you weep a tear too as he plays a role which Shahrukh Khan describes as his saddest ever in YES BOSS. He is a man who just knows two words - YES BOSS, especially when someone wants the keys to his apartment where he could have a lusty rendezvous.

He has his reasons though. He wants to grow fast and reach the top, though one fine day he keeps his foot down (and takes his key back) when he realizes that his boss (Kay Kay) is using his own bed to sleep with the girl he has always loved - Kangana.

On the other hand, a not-so-silent love blooms between Shilpa and Shiney, all in a matter of 4-5 weeks. He is vocal and persuasive, almost like a child, when all he wants is the company of the woman whom he started meeting on the streets of metro. He wants her to be with him with all her responsibilities and just wants to live on without any strings attached.

The setting, though complex on paper, becomes quite simple on screen, thanks to Anurag Basu who tightens the screws to make METRO a crisp 2 hours affair that makes you enjoy every moment you encounter....well almost!

Moments between Dharmendra and Nafisa are feel-good to begin with. Scenes like Dharmendra jumping the railway tracks to meet the woman whom he had left 40 years back or eating 'kheer' directly from a 'kadai' do not fail to make you adore the man all over again. Surprisingly, in the second half, it turns out that the only reason for Dharmendra's presence was to have him mouth a few dialogues about life, its beauty and the regrets that one may have if life is not lived as told by the heart. Fair point, but one of those rare instances in the film that are clichd. Also cliched is the way Shilpa reaches her eventual destination. Why go safe Anurag when you could have gone a full hog?

Thankfully, these are just some of the minor blemishes in the film that otherwise has originality as its core. Entire opening sequence featuring a continued war of words between Shilpa and Kay Kay followed by the prolonged 'room booking' sequence picturised on Sharman brings on shock value and humor respectively. Also sensitive is the scene where Sharman shows his father's dream land to Kangana.

Climax moves in a rapid manner with Konkana/Irrfan bringing on laughs, Kangana bringing on tears of happiness and Shilpa/Kay Kay realizing what they wanted with their marital lives. With multiple emotions being served on the platter in an alternate manner over duration of 10 minutes, Anurag Basu brings his own stamp on film making here. Commendable.

Also commendable is the manner the entire BAND METRO is placed. Comprising of Pritam, James, Soham and Suhail, the band comes at just the right places in the film and brings an altogether never-experienced-before mood to storytelling. Though in the second half it looses its charm a little, especially impressive is the way the band is placed in the first 15 minutes of the film, which may get an entry into the record books for the longest ever opening credit roll.

The film belongs to each and every character in the film but if someone stands out it is Irrfan Khan. He shows yet another facet of portraying a character which almost convinces women that there is nothing wrong if he gazes at their assets. Shilpa delivers her best performance ever and looks extremely gorgeous even in daily wear while Konkana proves yet again that she deserves to be utilized more for her immense acting abilities.

Sharman is likeable as always and delivers yet another contrasting yet noteworthy performance after STYLE and RANG DE BASANTI. Kangana and Shiney may have relative smaller parts but they ensure that they do a good job in the limited screen time they get. From Kay Kay, it is now quite obvious to expect nothing but a very good performance and hence there is no surprise in seeing him bring to fore a character which is MCP as its best.

Now this is one film that couldn't afford to go wrong. With so much of stakes involved, it was up to Anurag Basu to go all out and make a film that would justify all the buzz and hype that was surrounding it ever since it was conceptualized.

And doesn't he deliver goods?