A 'metro' worth visiting...

Correction: It came to my attention that I originally included Shool as a good performance by Shilpa Shetty. I was kindly reminded that Raveena Tandon was the lead actress in Shool. Ms. Shetty's contribution was the item number, Main Aayi Hoon U.P. Bihar Lootne. My apologies for deeming that a performance. (Thanks Roopam)

In my last post I spoke of gathering an ensemble cast and then failing at extracting any good performances or creating a cohesive story. In Life in a...Metro, director Anurag Basu manages to bring out the best in nine performers while simultaneously narrating six different stories. As if that were not enough, Basu manages to weave them into one cohesive unit without ever delving into the contrived coincidences to which the Hindi film industry is so accustomed.

Metro tells the modern-day tale of a metropolitan area, of the interconnectedness of its inhabitants and the deceit that plagues India's upper-middle class. Never once do you feel as though you are watching something implausible or farcical. The plights of each character are such that anyone can empathize or at least admit to have seen before.

Last time I talked of regressive directing, of how Anubhav Sinha somehow managed to take enormous steps backward with his latest release, Cash. Basu, on the other hand, seems to have improved leaps and bounds in the art of storytelling. For someone who made his directorial debut with Kucch To Hai, a cheap I Know What You Did Last Summer rehash, and then went on to plagiarize every other Hollywood film possible, it comes as almost a shock that he is capable of such meticulous direction; especially considering his list, until now, comprised of the disastrous Arthur remake Tumsa Nahin Dekha and the 'why don't we sell some sex' copy of Unfaithful, i.e. Murder. Somewhere in between was a semi-convincing (but still entirely unoriginal) Saaya, until Basu finally struck gold last year with a dark horse sort of film called Gangster.

And now, as if out of the blue, he's made a film on par with international cinema, something that very few contemporary Hindi filmmakers can boast of. Yes, Karan Johar, we still watch your films. But my oh my would we be embarrassed to watch them with our non-desi friends.

Disclosing the actual plot-lines would risk giving away too much, so I will simply talk about the performances and music. Each and every actor comes out a winner. Kay Kay Menon and Irrfan Khan are already seasoned performances and do not let you down. Shiney Ahuja can add this film to his already-growing repertoire of promising performances. He's definitely a talent to look out for. Sharman Joshi is also quite the surprise package - someone who has appeared in the most useless of films, such as Style, Excuse Me and Shaadi No. 1 seems to have finally found his footing in a more serious, not to mention productive, venture.

If you think the ladies are around to provide the romance and dance around trees, you better guess again. Each is as strong as her male counterpart. Shilpa Shetty has emerged into a fine actress - it seems that she is finally finding the roles that showcase her acting prowess, some 15 years after she announced her arrival in the industry. Metro will definitely go down with Dhadkan and Phir Milenge as her career-best performances. Konkona Sen Sharma is another phenomenal talent to look out for. She continues to prove her worth post-Omkara and Page 3. Kangna Ranaut also takes one by surprise - while she definitely showed signs of talent in her earlier outings, one felt she was rather over the top. Here she manages to keep herself restrained.

Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali are as charming as ever.

The music is also outstanding - a great blend of Pakistani and Bangladeshi artistes, with some Indian for good measure. :)

Verdict: A must-watch for everyone!

Lock this Cash in a safe, will you?

Now, let me get this straight. Anubhav Sinha, a director who showed a decent amount of talent in two (albeit contrived) films, Tum Bin and Dus, manages to pull off a cast reading Ajay Devgan, Ritiesh Deshmukh, Suniel Shetty, Zayed Khan, Shamita Shetty, Esha Deol and Dia Mirza. Or I'll take that back and say Sinha manages to pull off a cast of Ajay Devgan and Ritiesh Deshmukh, because it's no secret that the other five probably do not know themselves how they have managed to persist in this industry for so long.

Then Sinha gets the music-duo Vishal-Shekhar to create a racy, borderline annoying but irresistibly catchy musical score. Sinha gets the foreign locales, he ropes in the high-speed chases and nail-biting stunts. He even brings to the table a cartoonist who bestows upon each character his or her very own animated introduction!

And yet somewhere, perhaps in the middle of all these "important" (?) details, Sinha turns around and realizes that neither he, nor anyone involved in the project, seems to know what the bloody film is even about. Moreover, Sinha surprises us and decides to continue narrating - no, not anything resembling a story - but a chain of more stunts. And lo and behold, there is Cash for you.

The actors, for their part, sing and dance and make a huge fuss about how they've got cash on their mind, making money all the time. What no one seems to have on his mind is how to give a decent performance. Ajay is the biggest miscast here - he looks bored, rather bewildered if you will, and quite uncomfortable romancing the considerably younger Shamita. He also looks far too old to appear in the title song at the opening credits, almost making a mockery of himself. Ritiesh is another talent wasted. Needless to say, the guy has a flair for comedy. Sadly, you see very little of it here. For some reason best known to the animator, cartoon Ritiesh seems to have blond hair. The cartoons, as an aside, are superfluous and obnoxious.

That Zayed is a lousy actor is no secret. Here his hair makes him a step more intolerable than usual. Suniel throws around his fake American accent like his life depends on it.

Of the ladies, Esha comes across insipid and hardly looks her best. She also decides to remove her shirt and fight off the villains in her sports bra, most probably because Ms. Shetty fighting alongside her threatens with her superior abs. Shamita, for her part, actually manages to look convincing as a hot home security official. What's sad is that her character is probably the most clueless security official you will ever see.

Dia looks stunning and is conspicuously absent from the title track (instead we are relegated to Esha's absurd facial expressions). She manages to do a decent job, pity there is so little of her.

The songs are shot with aplomb and are where most of the style is evident. Yes, they all contain English. And no, none are meant to be taken seriously. You will find yourself singing Cash, Naughty Naughty and Rehem Kare whether you like it or not. Mindblowing Mahiya, on the other hand, would have been best left unrecorded (I personally would have shredded the paper it was originally written on, but those are minor details).

Verdict: Isn't it obvious?

Welcome :)

Several years back, I spent about four years writing reviews for DesiClub.com. With time and more important commitments (a little something called university), I was forced to keep my film-watching and review-writing on the back-burner for a while. In other words, unless you were subscribed to my Xanga, you probably never read one.

But now, with my blogging addiction back in full swing, I've decided to create this blog where I can share my thoughts on the latest Hindi films. Of course, I also watch English films, but let's not kid ourselves. It is far easier to poke fun at Hindi films, that too in the satirical tone with which I like to write.

So sit back and enjoy, argue with me if you will. I am always amused by those who disagree and the arguments they put forth. And don't hesitate to share this with your friends.