City Lights
City Lights

The cast and crew of City Lights held a special screening of the footage as well as a press conference yesterday at J W Marriott Hotel, Mumbai. While we were engrossed in the substance that this event had to offer, we decided to tell you why watching this film is an absolute must!

1. IT IS REALITY ON REEL

The cast and crew of City Lights
The cast and crew of City Lights

Although it was only select footage from the film that we watched, it was enough to give us goose-bumps just like the trailer did. The film has an element of reality that shows us what we know but choose to neglect, the kind of hard work and obstacles that make this city what it is.

2. THE RAJKUMAR RAO-HANSAL MEHTA COMBINATION

Hansal Mehta, Patralekhaa & Rajkumar Rao
Hansal Mehta, Patralekhaa & Rajkumar Rao

Director Hansal Mehta and Rajkumar Rao were both honoured with the National award for best director and best actor respectively for their film, Shahid. It will be interesting to watch their new venture and see their already awesome combination in a different light.

3. A POWERFUL DEBUTANTE

Patralekhaa
Patralekhaa

This is her debut film and actress Patralekhaa is nothing less than phenomenal as she portrays a wife and a mother who will do what it takes to feed her family. Her powerful performance involves you and makes you feel the pain of the many women that she is depicting through her character in the film.

4. MAHESH BHATT REMINISCING HIS ‘ZAKHM’ DAYS

Mahesh Bhatt
Mahesh Bhatt

Mahesh Bhatt may have deviated from his kind of films, after Zakhm, but just when the fraternity was ready to label his genre, he is proudly associating himself with City Lights. “It took me a lot of courage to do a film like City Lights in today’s market driven, celebrity culture. The benign indifference of the city is reflected on screen in this film.” We know a film is worth watching when Mr. Bhatt passionately associates himself with it.

5. MUMBAI. JUST, MUMBAI

Mumbai skyline from Malabar Hill
Mumbai skyline from Malabar Hill

This film, in a way, may be a little cliché when it comes to the story line, but the treatment on screen is not ordinary. As people who live in Mumbai, this film is an important watch because we all need to realise that “while the city sleeps, it can be awakened’’, as beautifully put forth by Hansal Mehta. The city of dreams has the other side of reality that has been brought out in the most honest sense through City Lights.

City Lights releases on 30th May. We have marked our calendars, will you?