Life in a Metro (2007)

A Masterpiece!

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Personally, I love a movie which has characters that I can relate to. It is unlikely that you would find layered and well-written characters as those that were seen in Life in a Metro. Comprising of a talented cast, all the actors have their moments and Kay-Kay Menon gives a convincing performance in this film. Life in a Metro tells the story of nine different people living in the same city who are connected in some way. Even though each narrative is different, each story in itself is quite fulfilling and emotionally satisfying. This is the kind of movie that rarely come out in Bollywood and the filmmakers should be appreciated to come up with a sensible movie which doesn't rely on over the top acting or item songs to rein in audiences. All in all, Life in a Metro is a richly satisfying experience. If you are reading this, please do yourself a favor and watch this movie. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Life in a…Metro is directed and written by my favorite – Anurag Basu. After having watched Murder and Gangster (and very much impressed with them), I decided to watch Metro. And of all his films, I liked Metro a lot. Anurag is one reason which prompted me to watch it. Second is its taglines: "One City, Countless Emotions: Love, Lust, Passion, Sex, Stress, Romance, Loyalty" and "Shilpa Shetty as never seen before on screen." Metro promises these two eye-catching taglines and lives up to it.Metro is the story of nine different people, living in one city and somehow related to each other. First is Shikha (Shilpa Shetty) who is married to Ranjeet (Kay Kay Menon) and has a six year-old daughter. Ranjeet is in an extra-marital affair with Neha (Kangana Ranaut) who works under him in a BPO. Rahul (Sharman Joshi) is Neha's colleague and he has a wonderful idea for success. He lends his apartment to his bosses to bring their girlfriends, mistresses and prostitutes and in return, they recommend him for promotion. On one such instance, he lends his apartment to Ranjeet and comes to know that Neha, whom he secretly loved, is Ranjeet's mistress.Shikha, fed up of her boring life with Ranjeet, who ignores her, is attracted to Akash (Shiny Ahuja). Shika's sister, Shruti (Konkona Sen Sharma) is a 27 year-old spinster desperate to get married. She initially refuses to marry Monty (Irrfan Khan) but later befriends him. Coincidentally, Neha is Shruti's room-mate. Apart from these, we also have Amol (Dharmendra) and Shivani (Nafisa Ali), the senior couple who unite after their spouses' deaths. Shivani is also Shikha's dance teacher.Tackling multiple stories in 2 hours is a challenge and Aurag does it well except for a few flaws. The screenplay is the best which I have witnessed till date. The lives of nine people are depicted on the screen but the viewer is never confused. There are plenty of songs which slow down the happenings which was very much required. The starting scenes leave tremendous impact on the viewer – Shruti and Monty's first meet, the tense moments between Shikha and Ranjeet on their anniversary, Shruti discovering her boyfriend (Gautam Kappor) to be gay, etc. The post interval portions raise the graph even higher where Rahul and Shruti discover about Neha and Ranjeet's affair, the moment where Shikha and Akash are to get physical and finally, the climax of most of the stories.Anurag handles most of the above sequences very well. The climax of all the stories is very well thought of. Shikha deserts Akash and compromises with Ranjeet for her daughter. Neha dumps Ranjeet and unites with her true love Rahul. Shruti finally finds Monty fit for her. Shivani dies and Amol is left all alone in the huge world. He takes it positively as forty years back, he also had dumped Shivani for his career. All ends well except for Akash and in the end, you really feel sorry for him and Shikha – thanks to their wonderful performances. In the end, Metro does teach us something about human relations.All the actors deliver superb performances. Shilpa Shetty as Shikha delivers her career-best performance. She impressed me in Phir Milenge but that performance is far behind when compared to this one. She shares superb chemistry with Shiny but alas! We can never see them together again. She is superb in the skirts she wore throughout. Shiny gets limited scope but makes use of his screen space well. He is remarkable in the last scene. Kay Kay is excellent. You hate him since the time he appears on the screen. He is under the skin of his character that loves his daughter dearly and uses his workers as hookers. Sharman is good. He doesn't get much to act actually. Kangana gets only one scene where she attempts suicide and she makes good use of it. Konkona is the most likable of all. She really looks desperate to marry. Irrfan Khan's comic timing is good and the way he delivers a serious dialogue with a straight face is superb. Dharmendra and Nafisa don't get to do much here but watching them together is pleasing.Metro has a novel idea; Pritam's (the music director) band is featured in each and every song of the film. In real life too, we have got various bands performing on the streets in a metro cities but it is the first we get to watch this on the screen. The idea is very good, I liked it a lot. Music is by far good and with the mood of the film. Background music is good too. Pritam handles his department well.Cinematography is fabulous. One can see Mumbai in a nutshell in this film. Those who have never been to Mumbai must watch this film. Also, if you observe, the first half of the story takes place in Monsoon while the latter takes place in autumn/summer. Also, the makeup and costumes are good. Shilpa looked stunning throughout.Metro is a great film with a perfect screenplay. Watch it for the story and power-packed performances by all the actors. Watch it for Shilpa as you will never see her again on the screen (at least in this way).

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.

This is a good blend of lives of different kinds of people staying in a metro and the conditions and situations they come across. The story is interwoven with different characters related to each other and takes care of all kinds of people not to miss any kind of character that is found in a metro. It is sensitive at times but entertaining. The plot is so nicely woven that you would be in touch with each and every character. The songs are also good and situational. Finally the end being really very crucial and the situations that come up treat everybody in a very practical way to manage everything and you wont feel it unrealistic because the directors and the script writers have done their job....In short, once watchable, worth spending few hours for entertainment. I hope everybody enjoys......