An underwhelming look at a tragic true tale
Mahesh Manjrekar had plot gold dust on his hands when he laid his hands on Jayant Pawar’s play, ‘Adhantar’, about the mill workers of the 1980s who abruptly lost their livelihoods in Mumbai when the mills were brought down to make way for malls. It had the potential to be a riveting tale of angst and agony, and Mumbai as a backdrop in itself is superbly cinematic. Only, it falls short.
Manjrekar does attempt to tell a heartfelt tale – the crisis viewed through the prism of a single family where the mother (an excellent performance from the reliable Seema Biswas) suffers through the cruelty of watching her family fall apart due to the events leading to the shutting of the mills. It’s a classic old economy razed to accommodate new economy dreams story, and Manjrekar’s cast of nondescript names pitches in with honest and fairly hard hitting performances. But the film is never elevated anything beyond an earnest effort, mainly because of a lack of a tighter and less melodramatic narrative and the production values.
True to his signature style, Manjrekar does pepper the script with hard hitting scenes (some of them are pure directorial indulgences, though) that try to move you. A dark, brooding and at times visceral look at a tragic story that the new liberalised India has forgotten, “City of Gold” is worth applauding for the effort. But when you’re Mahesh Manjrekar, applause for effort is not what you should be seeking.
Mahesh Manjrekar had plot gold dust on his hands when he laid his hands on Jayant Pawar’s play, ‘Adhantar’, about the mill workers of the 1980s who abruptly lost their livelihoods in Mumbai when the mills were brought down to make way for malls. It had the potential to be a riveting tale of angst and agony, and Mumbai as a backdrop in itself is superbly cinematic. Only, it falls short.
Manjrekar does attempt to tell a heartfelt tale – the crisis viewed through the prism of a single family where the mother (an excellent performance from the reliable Seema Biswas) suffers through the cruelty of watching her family fall apart due to the events leading to the shutting of the mills. It’s a classic old economy razed to accommodate new economy dreams story, and Manjrekar’s cast of nondescript names pitches in with honest and fairly hard hitting performances. But the film is never elevated anything beyond an earnest effort, mainly because of a lack of a tighter and less melodramatic narrative and the production values.
True to his signature style, Manjrekar does pepper the script with hard hitting scenes (some of them are pure directorial indulgences, though) that try to move you. A dark, brooding and at times visceral look at a tragic story that the new liberalised India has forgotten, “City of Gold” is worth applauding for the effort. But when you’re Mahesh Manjrekar, applause for effort is not what you should be seeking.
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