Not for the emotionally weak

This is a slice of life – ‘bitter life’ cinema. Hansal Mehta gets it to you with touching sincerity and a tale telling style reminiscent of Govind Nihlani at his very best. This is clearly a wonderful film to showcase the fact that India has great talent – albeit the inspiration is from elsewhere. Inspired by ‘Metro Manila’ it is in a way contemporary cinema (and society’s) and also a return to Bimal da’s ‘Do Bigha Zameen’. It’s only that this time the world of crime and intrigue is far more pervasive and bitter. Poverty is not new, but when juxtaposed with contemporary societal values, the tragedy is more complex and pronounced.

The two-hour narration is not for the emotionally weak or those with a weak conscience. It gnaws and shows you that we need to revisit the premise of our happy and luxurious lives. Even as a nation celebrates the new thumbs-up at the political level, we may do well to ask if we are a socially decadent nation. While people in high places have spoken about bank loans and public money, is the modern commercial kabuliwala (to borrow the expression from a judicial pronouncement) the genesis for many a social evil?

Our story is simple, Deepak (Rajkummar Rao) is a business failure who runs into losses and is hounded by moneylenders. He leaves Rajasthan to Mumbai in search of better opportunities. He is accompanied by his wife Rakhi (Patralekha) and their little daughter. To quote Jeremy Poolman, from his book ‘The Road of Bones’: Isolation and abandonment have the power when used well in tandem and with gusto to break a man in spirit and heart just as a pistol when fired with skill has the power to penetrate the flesh and break a man’s bones. Hansal Mehta deals with exactly this.

Even as Deepak becomes a spectator of his own life, he gets drawn deeper into the vortex of helplessness. While wife Rakhi gets to a format of Mrs Warren’s profession, he finally finds a job with a security agency. Vishnu Sir (Manav Kaul) is his boss and helps him takes the baby steps in his new job and Mumbai. While Vishnu has a hidden plan for his seeming care and concern for Deepak, the latter echoes the lines from Paulo Coehlo – In my lust for life, I don’t regret the painful times. I bear my scars as if they were medals. I know that freedom has a high price, as high as that of slavery. The only difference is that you pay with pleasure and a smile even when that smile is dimmed by tears.

Surely neither life nor times is out there choosing Deepak as a favourite child. The resultant mess he is in tells of a life lost in dreams hijacked and he suddenly suffers the plight of a dove in the midst of vultures. The aching question that arises and goes unrequited is as to why is an honest, decent, happy life now just a mirage? ‘CityLights’ is loaded with impaired dreams and derailed desires. A gut-wrenching story is told in the backdrop of an apathetic and sometimes actively vindictive society – all this in the backdrop of the evening of a lit Mumbai.

In case you are the kind who is willing to be disturbed by a theme of this kind then this film is for you. The tickets are also easy to get. No Khanionics, no heroin’s jatkas, and yet cinema – or exactly for those reasons good cinema. Watch good performances from Manav Kaul and debutant Patralekha. More importantly watch the killer performance from Rajkummar Rao. His mannerisms and star quality make your heart go out for the guy. This is acting at its arguable best. If you have dreams for good cinema, then borrow from the lyrics in the film: Soney do khwaab bune do; jaagenge phir thamenge; koi wajah jeene ki, Sone do khwaab bune do.