Life in a Metro
2007 · Directed by Anurag Basu
Original language: Hindi
- drama
- romance
The story
A group of Mumbai up-and-comers search for love and struggle for success in this ensemble drama that centers on an eager young call centre executive.
What it’s like
Warm, rain-streaked Mumbai in a melancholy, lived-in register, the city shot in saturated monsoon greens, sodium-orange evenings and cramped office fluorescents that flatten into cool blue-grey at night. The camera moves restlessly through crowded local trains, glassy high-rise lobbies and tiny apartments, with handheld intimacy during quarrels and long, held frames when couples sit in silence over dinner. Music is a mix of Pritam's bright pop-film songs and softer piano underscoring, so the tone swings between giddy and wistful. Pacing is episodic and unhurried, moving between several interlocking storylines, each one a small, fragile arc of a person learning to commit, lose nerve, or trust again. Emotional weight comes from marriage, infidelity and the fear of settling down, rather than from violence: there is some tension, a few sharp arguments and an affair handled with sadness, but no gore and little physical danger. Suited to a rainy weekend, a slow evening with a cup of tea, or anyone who likes romantic drama about urban professionals who keep circling the same questions about love and loyalty.
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