Life in a Metro (2007)

The title of this movies gives an idea of the setup of the movie. City of Mumbai with local trains, clubs, shopping malls, cell phones, rain and good looking people on the street are the basic assumptions behind the title. What the story brings is an interwoven but not complicated lifestyle of about a dozen characters. Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) is married to Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon) who is having a no strings attached romance with Neha (Kangana Ranawat) who is sharing her apartment with Shruti (Konkona Sen-Sharma) who is not just Shikha's sister but is also having a buddy Monty (Irfan Khan) who previously got acquainted with Shruti as an arranged marriage proposals while Neha is stalked by Rahul (Sharman Joshi) who works at a call center under the supervision of Ranjeet. Is that all? Actually no. Shikha, after the disappointment from her marriage with Ranjeet, is having a 'butterflies-in-the-stomach' romance with Akash (Shiny Ahuja).I think that sums it up. Now the question is what next? I guess thats when Anurag Basu (writer and director) starts his imagination or experiences with relationships. Compared to his previous project, Gangster (2006), the script of 'METRO' is rather crispier and the characters look more intelligent and believable. Even though there are almost 6 parallel stories in the script there is not a single time when it confuses. From the introduction of all to the finales writer keeps you on the same page as his. The ambiguities of extramarital and unsure relationships are well written. Although initial fast pace of the script in the first 1 hr. drags a lot in the later half. The melodramatic finales of different couples are laughable. Save Shikha and Akash's temptations and anxieties. In a way this movie has almost nothing new to offer. What actually it offers is Shilpa Shetty's comeback and she perhaps steals the show with her looks. What accompanies is Shiny Ahuja (alway impressive) and Konkona Sen. Surprise package includes Sharman Joshi's ambitious character. His story with Kangana Ranawat (another 'for your eyes only') reminds of Shahrukh Khan and Juhi Chawla in Yes Boss (1997). Also why there was the story of vintage actor Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali??? Music score by Pritam will add a star to this movie. The picturization of these songs is also a fresh new way as opposed to the same old aerobics or dramatic styles. Direction of few scenes, like the erotic sequence of Shikha and Akash uses a good mixture of lights and shadows which also is pretty well acted by the two. Last but not the least Irfan Khan's Monty is quite memorable. He is funny as hell.In and all the stories have been seen and heard before but fresh new faces including Shilpa Shetty and a nicely written screenplay will make this one a good experience. Worth a look with some popcorns and a gulp.Rating: 5/10.

I saw two Anurag Basu movies almost back to back - Gangster and LIA Metro. I wish there was some way to put the best of these films together and make an awesome film. Gangster had a taut script and did not have as much disconnect as Metro, but Metro had some fine performances and great music.Metro is centered around an apartment that belongs to Rahul (Sharman Joshi) and he is happy to loan the keys to all and sundry for an edge up the career ladder. Sound familiar? Of course it should, there was a great film called The Apartment with exactly this theme where Jack Lemmon played the beleaguered employee who had to spend cold nights outside while his bosses "used" the apartment. And Rahul loves Neha (Kangana Ranaut) from afar only to find that she is one of the girls the boss Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon) takes to the apartment. In the original this role of a vulnerable career girl was played by the incomparable Shirley McLaine and Kangana tries to channel her for all she is worth. Now to make his story original Mr. Basu flails about and adds on many other stories - Ranjeet has an ignored wife Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) who meets a man Akash (Shiny Ahuja) on a train/bus and starts to fall for him. Shikha's sister Shruti (Konkona Sen Sharma) shares an apartment with Neha and is pining for love to happen to her. After some Page 3 type mis-steps (date is gay) she falls for Monty (Irrfan Khan). Confused? Wait there is more - Shikha and Shruti's mom Shivani (Nafeesa Ali) meets up with her old flame Amol (Dharmendra) and he busts her out of some place she is not allowed to leave.So these pieces ebb and flow in the ocean that is Mumbai and we see a slice of working class life in the metro. Whenever there is a poignant moment there is a beautiful song that no main character sings. Instead we have a flea bitten trio of singers who do the honors. This is right out of Something about Mary - worked there, but here it is hokey to the extreme and the dudes are very annoying. They totally ruin the fine music in the film.Direction is okay I guess - there are some blood red moments when Shilpa is about to do the deed (will she?) - I felt like I was back in Black Friday. The film is very dark and moody and the cinematography is quite excellent.Now for the best part of Metro - the acting. In order of my preference - Kay Kay plays the cad husband and heartless boss very well. But why does he breakdown when he comes back home? Neha leaving him makes that profound a difference? That is just not believable, but his caddish behavior after Shikha confesses is spot on! Irrfan is awesome as the socially inept male who cannot keep his eyes on the right spot. His horse-ride is filmy but hilarious. Next up is Shaman Joshi - he has the best role and does an excellent job as the career guy who suffers the consequences of his own thoughtless actions. Konkona is competent - she does this job well but this is really not a meaty enough role for her. Same goes for Shiny - not much of a role, but well done. Shilpa is okay - I found her trying hard to express sorrow and remorse and happiness but not being very natural in her attempts. In that sense I felt that though Kangana played the same role yet again she was good in her role. However - she needs to improve her diction. And last but not least we have Nafeesa Ali and Dharmendra - I wish Anurag had chopped off a few of the inane bits and given us more of this duo - they tugged at your heart strings and were simply beautiful. Inexplicable why she dies and why she could not leave her "home" etc. but I did not care.So all in all I think Gangster (in spite of Emraan Hashmi) was a better flick - more focused and touching. But Metro is a decent watch for the ensemble cast that all perform well.

Metro As the name suggets the movie is about the life of peoples in a Metro.There is one guy (Sharman Joshi) who has got his father's dream to fulfil. He hands over his room keys to anyone in his office who is in a important post and can decide on his career. There is a girl (Kangana Ranaut) who sleeps with her married boss with the hope that her boss will marry her. There is a plain jane (Konkana) who is scared of marriage because she feels that something might go wrong in marriage. There is this person (Kay Kay) who is married to Shilpa is not very happy with his marriage and sleeps with Kangana. Shilpa who is married and has kids is attracted to Shiny Ahuja. Shiny Ahuja is an unemployed youth into plays waiting for his Dubai job to materialize. Irfan Khan who met Konkana for marriage is rejected by Konkana because he was looking at the wrong places. There is Nafisa who is a dancer once upon a time in love with Dharmendra who is back in her life. Dharmendra as the lover of Nafisa is back to India and Nafisa after realizing the mistake done by him.The story belongs to all these peoples each of whom has got a story to tell and each story is linked with someone else's. Some nice songs, nice picturization. Nice direction, acting by all lead stars.

With one movie, Anurag Basu rose quite high in my books as a director to look out for. Gangster was in many ways a complete movie for an Indian Movie audience and one of the best features of last year. Expectantly, Life in a... Metro was highly anticipated, especially with the movie repeating most of Basu cast & crew and a few more welcome actors. Basu sits right on top of the breed of Bhatt-nurtured directors who, if nothing else, have always made movies distinctly different from regular Bollywood fare.Life in a... Metro is an amalgamation of six stories between nine characters from one suburb. These stories entwine and intersect at various points to portray personal lives for regular middle-class suburb dwellers. Passion, Sex, Loyalty, Romance, Lust, Stress and Love become the underlying themes woven into the fabric of the movie.Basu is not in top form here, but this could be more due to constraints of mainstream Bollywood. Visibly a bigger and a more conformist producer like UTV (Ronnie Screwwala) is not as liberal as the Bhatts with Basu. Melodrama and formula somehow creep in and take over the final act of the movie in a complete departure of style from the rest of the movie. Apart from this major gripe, Basu deftly handles interspersing between stories and fleshing out his characters. Adultery becomes a major theme in most of the stories, but moral questions are not raised and neither ignored. Events are simply depicted "as is", letting the viewer judge for him/herself of their moral implications. That extra-marital affairs and sex-for-favors exist is taken as fact rather than implied, taboo'd or endorsed. Rather, the effect of it on individuals is depicted differently and quite aptly. Among the troupe of (mostly) wonderful actors, Kay Kay Menon thunders ahead portraying a selfish and chauvinistic husband and boss. Any scenes with him are the highlights of the movie proving again beyond doubt how wonderful an actor he is, regardless of the character he plays. Yet, for the genuinety of him you are left wanting to see more of him on screen than the limited screen time the director could afford. Complementing him in a parallel story is Irrfan, an equally gifted actor, playing a passionate and philosophical middle-age single guy looking for an ideal wife through matrimonial ads. Sprinkle around them a host of characters to support their stories, and you have a wonderful ensemble that is as true to the setup of the movie as any. Shiny Ahuja and Kanga Ranaut play easy parts but their talents are used only to a minimum. Dharmendra, Nafisa Ali, Sharman Joshi and Konkona Sen Sharma play regulars. Exception: Shilpa Shetty. Her character and performance are so out of this movie that you wonder if she walked into the wrong movie set with a different script. Shamelessly flaunting her star status and new-found celebrity, she proves yet again that being and "Actor" and a "Movie Star" are not mutually inclusive.Basu's association with Pritam continues to produce some really good music. The movie's music is more of a soundtrack with a single musical theme in all the tracks. Basu also has the three-member band appear throughout the movie inbetween and during scenes. These band members are part of the crowd, or drifters singing the tracks that are sprinkled through the movie. A high-end concept for Indian Cinema, and one that works for me completely.Although the climax reaches levels of extreme campyness, it is easy to forgive the director for the battle he fights with only a few others on his side against Bollywood conventionalism. Yet, after the powerful Gangster, Basu's latest is a step down. For his and our sake, I wish him back to the Bhatts.My Rating --> 3.5 of 5