Excellent, Without a doubt!!

Best movie ever!

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

4/5 Insanely brilliant. Extremely poignant. True to life. These expressions spring up in my mind as I begin to write this review. You see, I am still recovering from the emotional, thrilling and dramatic sledgehammer which is Citylights. To put it plainly, this is the most consistently brilliant Hindi movie I have watched in all of 2014. I was hooked from the first frame and loved the unpredictable turns the script took. The worst and the best of human nature are vividly portrayed throughout the length of Citylights and it makes for some heart rendering and some truly uncomfortable moments. It casts light on the plight of the rural migrant who comes to the city with high hopes. The contrast between the humane behavior of the so called vulgar elements of the society and the coldness, aloofness and predatory nature of the venerated high society is masterfully displayed.The acting is as good as it gets. Raj Kumar is easily the best new actor in Hindi industry. He gives a superlative follow up performance to his class act in Shahid. The debutante Patralekha matches him and even manages to outshine him in some scenes. This has the best kind of music, which propels the story forward rather than acting as an impediment to the story telling. Hansal Mehta, the director, deserves the highest praise for acting on his vision and making his second path breaking film (after Shahid) in two years. This is one of those films which helped me reaffirm my faith in the present of Hindi cinema. I loved it.

When Bhatts and Hansal Mehta who won laurels for SHAHID(2013) come together, we expect a brilliant film CITYLIGHTS is simply brilliant, The film is an official remake from Vishesh Films, of a widely acclaimed gem titled METRO MANILA directed by Sean Ellis (made in Tagalog language) in the year 2013. The best part is it's realistic handling. It starts with Rajkumar Rao and his wife coming to Mumbai from Rajasthan in search of a better lifestyle, there are left homeless,all their problems are identifiable, They get cheated on the quest of getting them a house, then again he has to find a job, His wife starts working in a bar.etc There are several moving scenes like his wife's breakdown after his drunk act, The scenes with Manav Kaul who plays his friend who also makes use of him and the brilliant finale.The film does get slow paced but it's required to be narrated slowly, such films cant be rushed.Direction by Hansal Mehta is brilliant Music is good, Arijit's song Muskurane Ki Wajah is splendid while other songs too are good.Rajkumar Rao is simply brilliant, in fact he conveys so much through his eyes that it's difficult to assume that anyone else could play his part Patralekha as his wife is superb, Manav Kaul is terrific, Khushboo Upadhyay as the bar girl is superb, rest are all good

After MURDER 3, here is another official remake from Vishesh Films, of a widely acclaimed gem titled METRO MANILA directed by Sean Ellis (made in Tagalog language) in the year 2013. And the end result is almost the same as I felt while watching MURDER 3, wherein also the original film remained far better and a must watch classic indeed, as compared to its weak Indian adaptation focusing more on the commercial elements.So as the film is an adapted version, therefore we need to analyze it from two distinctive viewpoints as below:As an individual film Watching it as a new Hindi film with some fine tracks already popular before the release, this has a mixed bag to offer, impressing the viewer only in parts. Surprisingly beginning with a sensual scene itself, it clearly gives you the message that this is not an 'Art House' kind of drama, but has got every essential ingredient of a Hindi film following the routine. So we have good well written songs, long emotional sequences, tense revolting scenes featuring the underdog and bedroom insertions too as usual. CITYLIGHTS begins calmly focusing on the couple's poor state of living in the village and their decision to move to the city for a better future. The energy first comes in with the sequence of them being robbed on the very first day and then it all goes back to the same slow mood as per the theme. The pace returns with the dance-bar scene and when the male protagonist manages to find a job in a security firm along with a great song. So till intermission it manages to impress the viewer only partially and one expects for something explosive to come in the next half.However sadly the post intermission film disappoints mostly due to its various downers such as a few deliberately added songs, a long avoidable (but well-acted) dramatic scene, a heist scheme mystery revealed too early, the missing logic in the proceedings, a lifeless background score, all seen before feel and a muddled unexciting climax with many sudden twists ruining the overall impact of its exceptional performances. To put it straight, CITYLIGHTS have few outstanding acts, two great songs and a fine story base to play with. But what annoys you is the over-polished presentation of the subject wherein neither the poverty makes you feel for the couple nor the city comes out as a cruel part of the film like a major character.Director Hansal Mehta made a masterpiece SHAHID (2013) when he didn't care about anything else and just followed his script, vision and dream. But when he tries to make a theme based commercial movie having a wide release, he again stumbles like DIL PE MAT LE YAAR (2000), with many uneven highs & lows in a project which could have been another potential trendsetter for sure.Musically it would have been better if the director had used only one brilliant song "Soney Do" repeatedly in the film to make a larger impact. Though "Muskaranke Ki Vajah" is equally good but the song doesn't give you the expected emotional high when it gets played on the screen. The background music also could have added a lot with something innovative and DOP is not able to give the much desired dark feel to the subject as required.Performances being the major merit of CITYLIGHTS, its really sad that the narration couldn't provide them the much needed support to shine brighter. After winning the National Award, Rajkumar Rao once again delivers a stunning act getting deep into the skin of his character & he is just 4 years old in the trade, unbelievably. Patralekhaa doesn't get much scope in the later part of the film, but she does leave a solid impression in her very first film boldly. The child artist remains the neglected one throughout but plays it well in her limited scenes and Manav Kaul makes a terrific entry as the supervisor. The supporting cast adds a decent value to the key scenes, like the owner of the firm loving silly jokes and Sadia Siddique does it well as Manav's wife.In all, CITYLIGHTS manages to impress only partially and could have achieved a much higher status en-cashing the strong build up given by its good songs and the performers. But you can still watch it for the fabulous acts and a decent theme talking about the harsh poverty resulting in a crime in 8 out of the 10 cases in our society.As an official remake Watching the film as the official remake of METRO MANILA directed by Sean Ellis, CITYLIGHTS is not able to give you the same feeling of empathy, suffering, love, drama and thrill, since it strangely makes many major changes in the treatment, which in fact was the real soul of the foreign film till its final scene. To give you the details, the major elements they have messed with, are its depiction of the metro city Mumbai - which doesn't become an essential character of the film as Manila becomes in the original, Background music - which has been beautifully done in the foreign gem with a minimum arrangement and exceptional use of sounds. And lastly the actual revelation of the truth, which all happens in the final 10 minutes of the film only, unlike the Indian version where everything is revealed much earlier, ruining the magical end.Plus on a personal note, I couldn't understand why they deleted the most touching and emotional aspect of METRO MANILA, wherein the 8-9 years old daughter constantly complains about her toothache, but the couple doesn't have any money to take her to the dentist. So in case you like its basic theme then essentially watch the original at the earliest and do yourself a favour.

I appreciate makers for clearly mentioning that it is official remake of Metro manila. Promo was reflecting that this film must have realistic approach and yes, movie starts on that note but after interval unnecessary thrill is tried to be incorporated, which is not well executed even. How can an agency working for delivering cash and valuable didn't stall a CCTV in headquarter , even in directors chamber? Box has extra advance security system as self detonating bomb, in case of forceful opening but it opens with just an old fashion manual key, which replica mark could have been easily copied with absolute technique of soap using as copying tool? Which era this film belongs to? Why did super wiser choose Deepak Singh between the crowd of job applicants? There are lots of such type of question, which answers I did not get. Movie is very slow. Emotional scenes are shallow. I couldn't feel much. Performance wise Raj Kumar Rao as Deepak Singh is fine. Patrelekha as Rakhi is good. Manav Kaul as super wiser is mind blowing. He is super natural and endearing. Music supports the film but so many repetitions of a track bores sometimes. Lyrics by Rashmi Singh is worthy.