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City of Gold – movie review

An untold story behind the Mumbai that we live and work in today

  


City of Gold, movie review

Directed by Mahesh Manjrekar who directed the realistic film Vaastav, City of Gold takes another trip down memory lane. Just that this time around the result is a much more heart wrenching, soul stirring and shocking film about human avarice and apathy.

Today, there is hardly anyone who has not visited the swanky shopping malls, nightclubs, lounge bars, clubs and other such lifestyle destinations that have sprung up across the central part of Mumbai. City of Gold movie review…

However, very few know that buried deep below these glittering edifices to consumerism lies the dark, dirty and painful reality of many thousands of mill workers who once worked in the cotton mills in this very same area. Rising and toiling to the wail of the mill sirens each and every day, seven days a week, these workers embodied the true unbridled zeal and unflagging spirit of the city and played a pivotal role in the evolution of Mumbai as the modern day business capital of India.

And then it suddenly was as if they never existed. Following the mill workers strike in the mid-80s, these mils began closing down rapidly and the mill workers mysteriously disappeared. What happened to them, and where they went is one of the most shameful secrets that the city of Mumbai will have to bear for generations, one that until now has always been spoken about in hushed whispers.

City of Gold is the story of these long forgotten masses. It not only explores the apathy of these mill workers narrated through the story of one such family, but is also a take-no-prisoners account of the birth of the true underbelly of organized crime in Mumbai.

The film traces the birth of politics of greed in Mumbai and exposes the unholy collusion between the triumvirate of big business, the political establishment and the trade union leaders who ostensibly were charged with protecting the rights of the mill workers.

In the two decades that followed, the entire landscape of Central Mumbai was changed forever. Land became the currency of growth and thus began the systematic extinction of mills in Mumbai.

In just few years, lakhs of workers lost their means of livelihood. Having worked in these mills from generation to generation, this was the only vocation that they knew.

Many left Mumbai and went back to their ancestral homes, some others chose to stay back and fight what they soon realized was a losing battle. Some took the extreme step of ending their miserable lives, and still some others took to a world of crime.

The film City of Gold zooms in on the story of one such millworker’s family and how their fortunes nosedive post the strike. The Dhuri family headed by Ana (Shashank Shende) and Aai (Seema Biswas), try hard to keep their family together which consists of three sons, and a daughter.

Post the mill workers strike, as the events unfold Aai (the mother) tries to bind her family together even when there is just about nothing left to hold on to. The mill workers are lead to ruin by the owners.

Truth, as it is said, is stranger than fiction. But the truth that the film uncovers is not stranger, but darker and dirtier than any mind has ever imagined.
This film does not provide any direct solutions; in fact it ends on a despairing note.

There are gutsy and gritty performances by Seema Biswas, Sachin Khedekar and they are supported brilliantly by Siddharth Jadhav, Veena Jamkar, Ganesh Yadav, Satish Kaushik and Kashmeera. Karan Patel as Naru is a fine discovery and an actor to watch out for.

City of Gold is a hard-hitting and thought provoking film by Mahesh Manjrekar.

Cast of City of Gold:
Karan Patel – Naru
Vineet Kumar – Mohan
Sameer Dharmadhikari – Mahendra
Kashmira Shah – Mami
Satish Kaushik – Mama
Ganesh Yadav – Parshya Bhai
Sachin Khedekar – Rane
Seema Biswas – Aai
Ankush Choudhary – Baba
Siddharth Jadhav – Speedbreaker
Veena Jamkar – Manju
Shashank Shende – Anna
Anousha Dandekar

Credits & Crew of City of Gold:
Banner – Dar Motion Pictures
Producer – Arun Rangachari
Director – Mahesh Manjrekar
Story Writers – Mahesh Manjrekar, Jayant Pawar
Executive Producer / Co-Producers – Om Raut, Vivek Rangachari, Nikhil D’Rozario
Screenplay – Mahesh Manjrekar, Jayant Pawar
Dialogue – Jayant Pawar, Abhijit Deshpande
Lyricist – Srirang Godbole
Music Director – Ajit Parab
Cinematography – Ajit Reddy
Action – Pradyuman Kumar
Art – Prashant Rane
Editor – Sarvesh Parab
Costumes – Laxman Gollar
City of Gold, movie review