City Lights Rajkummar Rao Full Movie
Marcelo Chaplin
CityLights is a 2014 Indian drama film directed by Hansal Mehta starring Rajkummar Rao and actress Patralekha in the lead roles. It is a remake of the BAFTA nominated British film Metro Manila (2013).[2] The film was presented by Fox Star Studios in association with Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt.[3]
The story is about a poor farmer from Rajasthan coming to Mumbai in search of livelihood.[4] The film released on 30 May 2014, and won rave reviews from most critics. In spite of releasing in just 350 screens, CityLights became a success due to its low cost of production and consistent collections at the box office.[5]
Deepak Singh's (played by Rajkumar Rao) life as a former driver in the Indian Army in a village in Rajasthan who owns a garment store is tangled in the web of poverty, hope and despair. Deepak's family consists of his ever-supporting wife, Rakhi (played by Patralekha), and their little daughter, Mahi. They tag along on his journey to Mumbai as he is unable to repay the money he owes for his store. With no contacts or addresses, except that of his friend Omkar, Deepak takes extreme measures to search for him when arriving to Mumbai.
Deepak is tricked by two con-men who offer to sell him a flat for Rs 10,000 and decamp with the money. With no details on them, the Mumbai police refuse to file an F.I.R. His wife meets an escort working at a night bar, who provides them with temporary accommodation in a building and convinces her to work as a bar dancer until Deepak finds a job.
Deepak gets hired as a driver for a privately owned security bureau with a monthly pay of Rs 15,000. Deepak's senior colleague, Vishnu (played by Manav Kaul) realizes that he is gullible, and does various favours for him in order to gain his trust. Vishnu later reveals a plans to loot a parcel being transported by the security agency. When Deepak vehemently opposes the idea of the theft, Vishnu blackmails him by revealing that he has hidden a box that he previously stole, in Deepak's house. Feeling cornered, Deepak agrees to the risky plan of stealing the keys for this box. However, Vishnu is attacked and killed in the course of the robbery. Meanwhile, Rakhi loses her job. Deepak finds the box stolen by his senior in his house and comes up with a plan to ensure Rakhi and Mahi's safe return to their village.
The movie ends when his attempt to steal the keys from the agency cost him his life but through a shrewd tactic he is able to pass on Rakhi the imprint of the key for the stolen box. Rakhi and Mahi return to the village with Rakhi lost in memory of Deepak and their happy past.
CityLights marked actress Anwita Paul's debut, known by her screen name Patralekha. As Paul was in a relationship with the lead actor Rao, the production house did not disclose her name until the trailer was released. When press kept questioning about the lead actress, the filmmakers dismissed the question.[6]
While the film was originally set to be directed by Ajay Bahl, due to creative differences he was replaced by Hansal Mehta.[7] In December 2013, it was announced that shooting would begin in Rajasthan.[3][8]
Sweta Kaushal writes in a Hindustan Times review that Hansal Mehta's direction makes Citylights "intensely gripping and thought-provoking, the interplay of emotions and how the couple copes with city's hardships are the high points of the film."[13]
We have all seen bad times, the degree might vary. We tend to romanticize that part during the good times; it makes us get up and go on because we cannot go back. It is our boogeyman -- that thing in the closet waiting for us if we stop moving.
Mumbai is a city that will break you, beat you down, spit on you and test you. If you still manage to get up, it will take you in its arms like a mother, love you and lull you till it breaks you down again the next day.
Citylights is just the start of the actress who is going to astound audiences in days to come. She gets under the skin of her character so well, especially when she is sparring against Rajkummar, she simply ceases to exist as the person, but vanishes under the skin of her character.
It is a quality shared by all the accomplished actors in the film industry, be it Irrfan Khan, Manoj Bajpayee, Nawazuddin Siddiqui and Pankaj Kapur, they tend to draw away attention from themselves. This makes you notice them even more.
One of my favourite scenes in Kahaani is when Vidya Balan is alone in her hotel room, looking out of the window. She gave director Sujoy Ghosh the moments he and his editor Namrata Rao needed to create that pregnant pause tying up the story.
Rajkummar and Patralekha present Hansal and his talented editor Apurva Asrani (Satya, Chhal, Shahid) with such profound expressions and still moments, knowing what the director needs at those points in the story.
Synopsis/Plot : CityLights is based on the life of a farmer in Rajasthan who comes to the City of Mumbai with his wife and daughter in hope of a better life. The challenges they face, their encounter with a big city and how they rise to meet those challenges nurtured by the power of their love is what Citylights is all about.
The film tells the story of Deepak (Rajkummar Rao) and Rakhi (Patralekha) who migrate from a Rajasthan village to the city of dreams, Mumbai, for job, money and a better life. Once they reach there, they realise the city is not what it promised to be. While she has to take to dancing in city's seedy...(more)
Once in Mumbai, they not only fail to trace their friend, but also get conned by a property agent. While in police station to file a complaint, Rakhi meets a bar dancer, who subsequently helps them find a roof over their head, besides getting a job for Rakhi in the bar. Meanwhile, Deepak too gets a ...(more)
ityLights is the story of a couple whose rustic innocence is suffocated by the soul-crushing challenges of living and surviving in a big city. CityLights may not be exceptionally unusual in terms of its storyline, but Mehtas modulated, deeply felt treatment of the grim narrative material inform...(more)
The Mumbai in CityLights is not a city of dreams but full of woes. Mehta is sympathetic towards the straightforward Govind and his family who unaware of the city's wicked ways are too meek and ill-equipped to survive in the city. But he is not able to draw viewers into their sombre world largely due...(more)
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