CITYLIGHTS Friday 30 May 11:010 COMMENTS Release Date :5/30/2014 12:00:00 AMDirector :Hansal MehtaGenre :Drama
CITYLIGHTS Is Realistic But Uncomfortable Portrayal Of Truth Of Our Times
Performance wise, Rajkumar Rao delivers another award worthy act following his national award winning performance in 'Shahid'. He owns the role to the perfection and his eyes convey all the pain his character going through. Patraleka does a fine job in her first film but she needs bit of improvement in dialogue delivery. Background music by Raju Singh enhances the impact of the film and editing by Apurva Asrani keeps this tale crisp.
Go for this one to witness some quality cinema with solid content!
Pluses:
Rajkumar Rao is brilliant, debutant Ptaraleka is good, crisp editing, realistically shot, impactful background score, couple of good songs
Minuses:
too linear screenplay, slow paced especially in first half an hour or so, climax is cliched
Critic Rating:
3.5/5
Business Rating:
2/5
Verdict:
Watch it only if off beat purist cinema is your cup of tea
Detailed Analysis:
Hansal Mehta gave some really poor films a decade back. He made strong come back with biographical film 'Shahid' which won many awards and huge critical acclaim. Now he is back with another story which talks about lower class of our society stuck in big metros.
Film has rather simple story but the poignancy of tale is what keeps you hooked. Deepak Singh (Rajkumar Rao) is a farmer in Rajasthan and he is migrated to Mumbai with his wife (Patraleka) and his young child after his life stuck by tragedy in Rajasthan. First he fails to get nay job and later security guard job gives him nothing but frustration. Then how his desire to keep his family happy and complexities of metro life force him to take a criminal path form the crux of the story.
Performance wise, Rajkumar Rao delivers another award worthy act following his national award winning performance in 'Shahid'. He owns the role to the perfection and his eyes convey all the pain his character going through. Patraleka does a fine job in her first film but she needs bit of improvement in dialogue delivery. Background music by Raju Singh enhances the impact of the film and editing by Apurva Asrani keeps this tale crisp.
Music by Jeet Ganguly is another winner. 'Muskarane' is chartbuster still soulful and title song is intense. Screenplay by Ritesh Shah is slow paced especially in first half an hour. Too simplistic storytelling makes it bit outdated but 2nd half keeps the tight grip on you with some really emotional dramatic scenes. Art direction looks authentic and so are the costumes.
But yes its director Hansal Mehta who delivers another film which will be praised for its realistic portrayal of exclusive growth of our society where few sections left struggling for even basic needs. Film should be applauded for treading less beaten path with some aplomb.
Film will release today and should get niche release across 450 screens. Film will get competition from Bollywood release 'Kukku Mathur Ki Jhand Ho Gayi' and 'Heropanti'. Film should open with small initials but good word of mouth coupled with exceptional reviews can boost its prospects at box office Film is made on shoe string budget of around 12 cr and that is why even a decent weekend will take it to safe zone.
Go for this one to witness some quality cinema with solid content!
