This tale of that city

Mumbai, the quintessential city of dreams. While some dreams get forged to reality others don’t. But despite all odds, the city becomes the destination for thousands every year. There is always hope. 

Hansal Mehta’s Bollywood remake of Metro Manila is Mumbai’s reality check for infectious optimism. It’s not always rosy and what Mumbai has to offer to the migrants must be taken with a pinch of salt. Citylights is that pinch of salt and more. 

The movie tells a very basic story of Deepak (Rajkummar Rao; on an aside I really wish he would stop playing around with his name. He is doing more than fine in his career - he really needs to stop!) and Rakhi (Patralekha) who come to Mumbai with their daughter in tow. They are hoping for a better life there than what they had back in Rajasthan. And yes, they do not have a plan. They have just packed up their lives and moved to an unforgiving city because Deepak believes in the city of dreams. 

But then Mumbai has something different in mind. They are tricked out of getting a house, they lose all the money they have and the family is left to fend for themselves under a flyover. Deepak and Rakhi end up taking whatever they get to make ends meet; Deepak becomes a security guard and Rakhi becomes a bar dancer. 

Mumbai tests their limits every day, breaking away the soul bit by bit - even for the viewer. Listless nights give way to grimy mornings and life goes on. Citylights touches your core, it is meant to and Mehta has made sure it does. He’s paired up with the ace up his sleeve - Rao. They hit you square between the eyes with

Shahid and here they shake your core with Citylights. Rao gives his director back threefold. 

Citylights is a must watch. There is very little you will find histrionically or cinematically wrong with the movie. What however doesn’t work with the story - are the songs. They are beautiful compositions individually, but thrown into this movie - they add drama where none is needed. Rao is brilliant, Patralekha holds her own and Manav Kaul (who we last saw in Kai Po Che) shines through and through. 

‘How far will you go for the love of your family?’ asks one of the movie taglines. Evidently, as you watch Deepak and Rakhi’s lives play out in Mumbai’s heart of darkness, you can go miles and more.