{mosimage}Well... even though I had read about the movie "Life in a Metro" through the reviews, I must admit that I had a cultural shock while watching the movie. It left me in a despair that whether "SEX" is the only 'THE' thing of life and disgusting to watch the clandestine, illicit affairs conducted in simple casualness like brushing, eating etc.. But once that shock subsidised the emotions that run under each characters is identifiable. As I always used to say about the Maslow's theory of hierarchy, everybody chases something always... once it is attained, they start chasing another. The race is always like money & status first, fame next and love at last.. Some people run faster than their partner and in due course end up running with someone else...
I have been watching this taleneted Anuraag Basu, who had hit a big time since "Murder" and raved his mastery over this visual medium in "Gangster". With "Life in a ... Metro" Anuraag Basu proves that he is a better master story teller over others especially in script that has many love stories running parallely. "Life in a... Metro" is better than Salaam-E-Ishq, Honey Moon Travels and Just Married which fall in the same genre made famous by Amores Perros & Yuva.
{mosimage}Kay Kay Menon and Shilpa Shetty are a 'picture perfect' couple (Shaadi jo bhi sikhati hai ya nahi.. acchi acting sikhathi hai - Life teaches acting better than anything) but inside the home Shilpa claims to live in a hell because she made all sacrifices including a high profile career. Kangana Ranaut plays Neha who rises the corporate ladder swiftly not just because of her sheer hardwork but of her right moves - sleeping with her boss Kay Kay Menon. An ambitious Sharmaan Joshi whose love in life is not only money but Neha (Kangana) also is eager to please everybody who matters by addressing their sexual needs. Amidst these sex starved characters come Konkana Sen Sharma and Irfan Khan who are 'virgins' till their thirties and cruise shaadi.com for their marriage. Shilpa Shetty comes across Shiney Ahuja who is a struggling stage actor and deserted by his wife and gets attracted towards each other. Towards the climax all the characters find their true love.
Anuraag weaves an almost near to perfect screenplay with right ambience and taut structure. The way the characters are introduced and how they were inter-related was interesting. In the same pace he unravels the nooses in the second half is also good but we can't stop feeling that drag in the post interval parts.
In the movie Shilpa Shetty mouths a dialogue 'Humne makaan kharid liya par Ghar basane ki fursat nahi" (We bought a flat but no time to make it a home) that pretty explains the long office hours spent in repaying the loans, sex sharing to vent out in the working place and existence of ambitious / shrewd employees who sleep with their bosses on the way to top.
{mosimage}The beautiful track of the story however that still gives some space for withholding "virginity" till marriage is that one of Irfan Khan & Konkana Sen Sharma's one that often provides a laughter and relief. Their scenes especially Irfan's tears on the marriage's eve & scenes succeeding that. The movie slaps hard on the face on extra marital affairs, make no bones about gay sexuality of a 'playboy'. However it is sheer irony that Konkana's onscreen lovers turn to be gays (e.g Page 3 & Life in a Metro)... ha! ha! Hey, I forgot add my another favourite scene... Irfan Khan takes Konkana to the top of the building and asks her to vent out her angers and Konkana turns to an uncontrollable wail... touching scene.
The movie belongs to Shilpa Shetty & Konkana Sen Sharma completely with latter overshadowing the former at times. Kay Kay menon is strictly despicable on screen, whereas Shiney Ahuja could have got a still more better deal. I love his smile. Sharmaan Joshi is improving in each film since his "Style" days whereas Kangana Ranaut stabilises the fact that she is dependable.
The all boys band by Pritam is the most refreshing of recent scores. Their music is wonderful and the picturisation of those tracks on the band appearing on screen for each song is tastefully but overdone.
{mosimage}Cinematography by Bobby Singh gives this low budget flick a rich texture and wider canvas. Mumbai never looked so beautiful and lovely. On the concluding note the movie is concise (2 hrs running time) and watchable if you are OK to the concepts of extra marital affairs. May be I am still a person with small town sensibility, I still harbor some shock back...
