City of Gold (2010)

I don't know how to start my review.. Seriously, I thought of starting like "Damn good work, man!!", but I don't know what to write.. Mahesh Manjarekar is one with enormous talents, really!! What a movie, man!! Each character has got depth, brilliant performances, apt lighting, and a tight screenplay. The only drawback to say is that, the movie seems a little bit dramatic at places. Otherwise, the movie deserves 10/10.Set in the Mumbai of the 1980s, the movie deals with the mill workers' life , who made the city into what it is now. The movie is executed brilliantly, damn good!! Mr Manjarekar should direct more movies, we miss your talent, sir!! The casting is perfect, the performances are very good, Many people are newcomers, I guess from the theatre background. The guys performed well, Siddharth Jadhav was awesome as Speedbreaker. The girl who played Manju was awesome. Seema Biswas is just a WoWWW!!! Excellent performance. Sachin Khedekar was good. Satish Kaushik's role was very good. Kashmira Shah has got a meatier role to perform this time, and she proves that she can do well in terms of acting also. The rest of the cast was good, the ad-wala guy who played Jignesh was good.No scope for the music, except for a semi-item song in Marathi, during the credits. On the whole, Mahesh Manjarekar is a talented director, and he proves it once again in this movie. Very well made movie, watch it!!!

The movie starts as a flash back for a middle aged man who books a flat in Mumbai and recalls his younger days, when his father was a mill worker at the same property. Yes, it does sound like an Amitabh or Rajesh Khanna starer from the late 70s or 80s. The story line is simple, life and struggle of mill workers and their families. The treatment is however new. Reminds us in parts of "Cidade De Deus" or City of God,an award winning Portuguese film on violent neighborhood of Rio De Janeiro. Mahesh Manjrekar is however no Fernando Meirelles, nevertheless it is a commendable effort.The movie may not be a 'Vastav' or 'Satya' but it is not far behind.The story line is fast paced, actions are real,emotional scenes do emote and all actors look genuine in their parts. I have personally liked the movie and am sure you would watch it and form your own opinion.

Went with high hopes to see this one.Was truly disappointed. Bad is the only word which comes in my mind. Absolute terrible acting by some actors. Thought the director wants to show what the mill workers went through. Instead the movie revolves round a family with their personal problems. The second half is entirely pathetic.You will get a feeling when this will end.Guess the director was a bit inspired by City of god.You can reflect that in some (terrible) scenes.The opening song is unnecessary.The director i guess was caught in a dilemma, whether to make a serious film or a film for all types of audience. Save your time and money!

Vaastav still remains Mahesh Manjrekar's biggest hit till date - City of Gold was not even half of what Vaastav was. I was so excited to see this movie however it turned out to be one of the biggest disappointment of the year. The hype behind the movie was an untold story and the director's name but to tell you the truth - the core message of the movie that should have been was lost between a family's problems in poverty. The mill-workers that it is supposed to be based upon were only seen as poor people and any other mumbai-based slum movie would have shown what it did. Many of the actors were look-alikes e.g. Naru (character name) resembled R Madhavan and his brother resembled another TV actor which made this a little on the funnier side. Some tragedy scenes were done so tragically that it turned out to be funnier at times.Bad acting, bad screenplay, nothing new - just not worth the time and money. After having seen Vaastav and Satya (by RGV) this movie falls flat.