Life in a Metro (2007)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Anurag Basu

Writers:

Anurag Basu (story)
Sanjeev Dutta (dialogue)

Release Date:

11 May 2007 (Australia)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

One city. Countless emotions.

Plot:

Six different stories, about nine people, each with different issues and problems, all occurring within one place: the METRO.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Actor | Marriage | Opposites Attract | Ambition

Awards:

5 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Dharmendra	...	Amol
Irrfan Khan	...	Monty
Konkona Sen Sharma	...	Shruti Ghosh
Kay Kay Menon	...	Ranjeet Kapoor
Shilpa Shetty	...	Shikha R. Kapoor
Shiney Ahuja	...	Akash Sharma
Sharman Joshi	...	Rahul
Kangana Ranaut	...	Neha
Nafisa Ali	...	Shivani
Vicky Ahuja	...	Gupta, Rahul's boss
Gautam Kapoor	...	Vishy K.
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tejpal Kaur
Ashwin Mushran
Nilofar
Rinku Patel	...	Rucha R. Kapoor (as Rinku)
Sagarika
Meenakshi Verma		(as Minakshi)

Also Known As:

Metro (India: English title) (short title) (International: English title) (working title)

Runtime:

132 min

Country:

India

Language:

Hindi

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Ireland:PG | UK:12A (theatrical release) | India:A

Company:

UTV Motion Pictures

Trivia:

Urmila Matondkar was the first choice to play Shruti Ghosh.

Movie Connections:

References Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Soundtrack:

Baatein Kuch Ankahee Si

Mumbai, Actually

Inspired by Love Actually and that genre of storytelling, "Life in a Metro" is a sometimes insightful and sometimes predictable movie that is well worth a watch for its performances. The narrative featuring Kay Kay and Shilpa Shetty is genuine with many insightful comments -Shilpa Shetty's about the "deafening silences in marriages", the interesting question of which between physical or emotional infidelity is worse. Kay Kay's character of being a loving father who is adored by his daughter was a further dose of realism. Nothing is black and white. Special mention to both Kay Kay and Shilpa Shetty (didn't realise she had it in her) for really pulling it off. Shiny Ahuja is adequate without being special.

The other narratives were more predictable. Sharman Joshi and Kangana Raut - which is sort of a take off from "The Apartment" with Jack Lemmon and "For Love or Money" with Michael J Fox. So were Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali as the loving elder couple.

The track with Konkona Sen and Irfan is very entertaining. Irfan Khan is outstanding - an adjective one has started to use very often with him. Konkona adequate. However the circumstances make for some genuinely funny moments. Konkona as the 30 year old virgin dying to be with her idea man and Irfan - as about the most unlikely of men she could ever see herself with.

While I would not go so far as to herald this movie as either a path-breaking or life-altering Hindi movie (as some of the more dramatic leanings have suggested), I would say it is well worth a watch. It has a good music track - but could have done without the really hairy guy singing, as we changed from one narrative to the other.