Apr 22, 2010 09:28 AM
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(Updated Apr 22, 2010 09:30 AM)
This is a bilingual film shot in both Hindi and Marathi. While the Marathi version titled Lalbaug Parel released 2 weeks back, the Hindi version called City Of Gold will hit the screens tomorrow!
They clothed the city and the city in return stripped them off-this is the tagline of the film and suits it to the T. The mill workers worked in the mills honestly for generations but after the mills were closed post the spat between the union and the government, the workers were unemployed and had a terrible existence. And the mills (most of them located in Central Mumbai) got converted into swanky malls, offices and high-rises (India’s first Big Bazaar is located at Lower Parel on a land once belonging to the mills). The plight of the mill workers is an interesting idea for a film script but till date, there have been handful of films which have focused on it. Mahesh Manjrekar finally took up the subject and came up with Lalbaug Parel. The film borrows a part from real-life incidents and characters but the end product is completely fictitious. The film is worth watching but don’t go for it expecting to gain insight about the true picture of mill workers.
The story of the movie: The year is 1982. The disgruntled workers of Khetaan Mills in Lalbaug-Parel area reside in Laxmi Cottage. They haven’t received their salary since 6 months. Part of mills has already closed down and fears that the entire mill will become dysfunctional looms over their head. Rane (Sachin Khedkar), the union leader under the guidance of Dr Baburao Sawant is the champion of these workers and has promised victory to them. But the owner of Khetaan Mills, Mahendra (Sameer Dharmadhikari) is in no mood to address the workers’ grievances and is determined to sell the mill land for commercial purposes. Still the workers continue to fight. But one day when a terrible incident occurs inside the mill, the workers including Rane find themselves in a losing position. They lose their means of livelihood and are terribly shocked. While some return back to their ancestral village, some get into profession considered ‘dirty’ while few enter the world of crime in order to sustain them. A section also prefers ending their lives. To find out what happens next and know more about lives of Laxmi Cottage residents, go for the film!
The first half goes in establishing the characters with special focus on the Dhuri family which consists of Mohan (Vineet Kumar), his brothers playwright Baba (Ankush Choudhary) and aggressive Naru (Karan Patel), sister Manju (Veena Jamkar) and parents (Seema Biswas and Shashank Shende). Their neighbours are the misfit couple (Kashmera Shah and Satish Kaushik). Parshya Bhai (Ganesh Yadav) is a local goon who turns Naru into a criminal. The film revolves around these characters and their lives and the way they cope with the mill strike. However, by doing so, the story hardly moves in the first half. Still, this isn’t a big reason to complaint as the goings-on are damn interesting. Director Mahesh Manjrekar wonderfully absorbs you into the lives of the workers and establishes a connect with them.
It’s in the 2nd half that the film reaches a high. The turning point was when the mill gets gutted in the fire and its terrible and shocking consequences on the workers. The best part was undoubtedly the last 30 minutes when Naru is told to kill the associate of mill owner. Then the climax shot on the beach was simply excellent and little unusual too. The son is killed in front of the entire family including the mother and yet not a tear drops from anyone’s eyes while the one who killed terribly starts repenting the murder he committed. Simply awesome!
Where the film falters is its projection that it is a realistic film which it is not. The film is inspired from true incidents but doesn’t give a true picture of what actually happened. Also the film gives a wrong impression to the viewers about the wives and daughters of these workers. Most of the characters are shown either living a life of hopelessness or committing anti-social activities. The film makes no attempt to delve into lives of those who defied all odds and lived a decent life miles away from violence. Thus, the film works as a fictitious account but not as a ‘true to life’ one.
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