Superlative performances in an underwhelming story
Director: Hansal Mehta
Cast: Rajkummar Rao, Patralekha and Manav Kaul
City Lights is a subtle to the lure of the bright , incandescent life than a meter like Mumbai can offer an average rural Indian citizen metaphor. Under the hypnotic effect of these lights people can be reduced to inconsequential at the mercy of cause and effect issues. It is a destination and other vermin suffer in the luminescence of a moth insect exterminator . So these bright lights of the city is drawn in. They let you dream . They make you enter a world power . And then reality hits you like a spoiled voltage does fly . It is the perfect setting for tragedy. If you are familiar with Charlie Chaplin , you’d know that dominated this issue in a 1931 film called City Lights . But that’s just a fact desirable in the current scheme of things. CityLights of Hansal Mehta is based on a mixed Filipino film genre called Metro Manila, Indie director Sean Ellis . Pity then confuses Mehta action drama cum stylized font for a gentle human drama. I had to do the film Ellis, but he tried to make Chaplin. The best things are always lost in translation.
Mehta ‘s film starts beautifully. It satires the state of poverty in our country and the need for people to migrate to mega cities like Mumbai. Yes we are all in a meat grinder , and only those who have the stomach to survive routine . Rajkummar Rao ‘s character is just a man of simple people . He is so naive that he chose to give up a good job of the army in favor of family management . And the honest man is fleeced of all their money and spirit in a couple of hours on the streets of Mumbai. He , his wife and cute little daughter get fend off hunger and confusion. These are the adjustments made to the extent of breaking a person. To infuse some heavy drama. To show that no one cares about you in a big bad city. The pressures of living simply could break his will in two. All beautifully builds up halfway . You really feel as if something visceral teeth are falling out.
But then, instead of waiting for the nose dives to the emotions of undercooked action. Suddenly, the helpless and clueless protagonist becomes a gun toting hostage trusted manufacturer . Of course you could say under pressure and on the verge of despair, ordinary people are capable of heroic deeds . But that is the film released. And you do not sell the film in a gritty satire freedom . If you do, you push the realms of middle-of- the cinema – road.
CityLights lost the proverbial plot. Rajkummar Rao is giving his heart and soul character . But the story meanders outside their control. Even Patralekha , playing the wife of spirit , shows great promise as an actor. It’s a shame then that she has to look as porcelain. One would expect that a woman who comes from rural Rajasthan and you are living in a building under construction and work on a dance floor that does not seem an NRI . Arme Patralekha Rajkummar and are the driving forces of this film. Your honest performances redeem a somewhat uneven film . Special mention should be made of the actor Manav Kaul, who has a career waiting to happen in action movies in hindi .
The film has despite such promise. It is a sterile canvas underbelly and poverty and corruption in Mumbai. The things we’ve seen a thousand times before. Only this time they are show in soft focus , a more artistic lighting. That ‘s what happens with the lights. They can create a wonderful optical illusion. But that only lasts until you get closer and you realize there is nothing there.