Big city life. Review on Metro - Bollywood

Reviews on Metro seemed very positive. So today morning, when my friends decided to watch this movie, I was only too happy to join them. Just got back….and this is what I think.

The story(ahem.) basically involves 8 – 10 people who live in a Metro and go through all its emotions and tragedies. It portrays life in a Metro as one which is shallow, where people run after money and would do anything for it, where people make out with anyone….etc. Now this may be true to an extent, but the film portrays people in general as sinners. Anybody who has immense faith in the vices of a metro life will only be too happy to accept everything in this movie as reality and then sing its praises. But any person, who has no bias for the bade sheher ki life and who can see things in a neutral perspective would probably agree that some stuff here is overboard.

Shilpa Shetty(Shikha) is a housewife who gave up her career because her husband wanted her to have kids and settle down. He keeps insulting her about even the most trivial things and they basically don’t have a good marriage. He sleeps with one of his employees……quite a few times. Now this employee of his – Neha(played by Kangana Ranaut) is a very good friend of Rahul(Sharman Joshi) who also works in the same office. Rahul likes Neha but is heartbroken when he finds out she had been sleeping with his boss. Though he finds out, he doesn’t say anything to his boss because he has dreams of making it big in the metro and he feels he cant do it without his boss’ help. So money wins over love….in the first instance. Neha tries to commit suicide when she feels that she has been used. But predictably, Rahul takes her to the hospital. In the end, he leaves his dream, his job and his boss ….

Shilpa Shetty finds out about his infidelity too but keeps mum. Meanwhile she meets Shiney Ahuja whose wife had also left him because he wasn’t ahead in the metro rat-race. They become good friends and fall in love. When Shikha’s husband finds out, he treats her like garbage and though she tells him that she has never slept with her new friend, he asks her shameless questions like, ”Yeh bachhi toh meri hai na?” and “Mera bedroom use kiya tha?”

Konkona Sen Sharma, Shilpa’s sister cant find any guy. She is frustrated. Finally, she is fixed up with one of the guys in her office who turns out to be gay. Earlier she had been looking for a match through an internet matrimony site. She meets one of them(Irrfan Khan) but rejects him when he keeps looking at her in all the wrong places. Eventually however, they become good friends while Irrfan decides to get married to someone else.

Nafisa Ali plays an old lady who couldn’t marry the love of her life Amol(Dharmendra) many years ago because he listened to his dimag *and not *dil. Now he suffers from some serious illness and is here to die in her arms. Unfortunately Nafisa Ali passes away first. They are the only touching and sensible pair in the movie. At number two, I would place Shilpa and Shiney.

The emotional part is rightly portrayed, but honestly, there is too much of who-sleeps-with-whom. The interconnections are such that they can occur only in a Hindi movie. The boss sleeps with Neha……. who is Konkona’s roommate……. who is Shilpa’s sister …….whose husband is the boss.

The actors:-

The good thing about the movie is the actors. Everyone has done justice to their part. Shilpa Shetty is brilliant. So is Irrfan Khan. Kay Kay Menon does his part well. The rest don’t have very big roles. But they’ve all done justice.

Overall, I would say that yes….the director has tried to bring out certain aspects of life in a Metro but not all of it is believable. It has gone slightly overboard. You feel like people in general are being portrayed in this way.

In the end, Konkona realizes that Irrfan Khan(monty) is the one she loves and informs him of this in his own marriage after which there is a hilarious sequence where Irrfan chases her into the station(or airport or whatever it was) on his marriage horse. Shilpa Shetty lets go of Shiney….Neha deserts her boss and goes to Sharman Joshi. Predictable.

Honestly, I would say it was okay. Not excellent. There are many other aspects of metro life which the director could’ve concentrated on. Umm….and the music is quite good.

Comments most welcome ….positive or negative. Thank you for your time.