Jab Mile Thodi Fursat, Mujhse Kar Le Mohabbat. That is what the movie is crying out , and you will love the movie. Of course, it is a very lovable movie. And it does not get lost in the crowd of the many multi-cast, multi-story driven movies of recent Bollywood , all of which bombed at the Box Office. Metro is definitely in the safe hands of diro Anurag Basu.The film begins, and you know it , you smell that you are going to like the movie. So what is there to like about LIAM(Life in a Metro)? Almost everything. One point at a time, shall we?

The Plot: It is nothing new or original, in the sense, this is what we might get to read in one of those Metro tabloids of how infidelity, extramarital and premarital sex is totaly overloading the metropolitan lives. So, as far as the plot is concerned, I can pretty much sum it up saying, everyone here wants to get laid. Ok, seriously , the story revolves around 9 characters.

Homemaker Shikha(Shilpa Shetty) and Ranjeet(Kay Kay) are married and have a 6 year old daughter. Their marriage is on the rocks, but still Shikha tries to keep things going until she finds solace in the arms of a stranger Akash(Shiney Ahuja). Shikha's sister Shruti(Konkona Sen) is almost 30 and still unmarried and is desperately seeking for her someone special and ends up meeting Monty(Irrfan Khan) who is also searching for his perfect one on marriage portals.

Ranjeet on the other hand is having an extramarital performance with Neha(Kangana Ranaut) who works in his office, a relation which can be best termed as mutually exploitative. Caught in the drama is Rahul(Sharman Joshi) who is willing to do anything to climp up the corpo ladder of success. He even offers his apartment's keys to his philandering bosses as a quick way to climp up that very ladder. And well of course, Shivani ( Nafisa Ali) and Amol (Dharmendra) who want to come back together to rekindle their lost age-old love.
Performances:Kay Kay Menon comes across as the epitome of Indian male chauvinism and well that is what Diro Basu would have wanted it to be. He plays it so perfectly, that sometimes he starts appearing as the Green Goblin. ( Secret Revealed: I have been drawing parallels between the two: Spidey 3 and LIAM, and you know what, I liked LIAM more than Spidey.Primarily because, the drama here is better and Shilpa is much sexier than ageing Kirsten Dunst )

Shilpa Ooh Shetty. She has come a long way now, of course from London's Leicester Square Premiere of the movie. But seriously, leave aside Big Brother, and that "kiss" with Mr.Gere. Shilpa wooes on the big screen. I love her Sari, I love the way she fights with Mr.Menon and I love the scene where Shiney urges her to succumb to desire, and Shilpa responds with utter confusion ,remorse and emotional outburst. Shiney Ahuja, a well polished actor , hasn't been put to much use in the movie. Sharman Joshi is very likeable as Rahul and the initial scenes between him and his neighbour Doctor just crack you up. Kangana Ranaut has very less to say, but well she must be happy with the role she got to play. Because in the silence of Neha, is what her inner tumoil comes out best.

But the crown goes to Irrfan Khan and Konkona Sen for giving the most enjoyable moments of the movie, especially the one at the beach, when Monty cries like a baby over the thought of his wife not allowing him to see Shruti.And well, the dialogue that follows after " Gaadi Nikalo, Chance Leke Dekho". Although Dharmendra's intro scene is a very likeable one, when he crosses the railway tracks to meet Nafisa Ali, the story of the two gets a bit sluggish , and even a bit unreal at a certain point when they elope on a stolen bike. I mean, where has the sugar problem and the arthritis disappeared? But then, it would be almost like nitpicking on such a loveable movie.

Diro Anurag Basu has proved it that cinema is indeed a director's medium. Crisp editing, lovely narration and a brilliant soundtrack from Pritam. LIAM has it all. But well, I have some complaints too. 1: Why was James featured in Alvida, even when KK's version in the album is so much better?2: Why Pritam playbacked on In Dino, even when Soham has sung the song and he features on the TV Promos?3. Why does the band need to feature in every song?I mean it is ok if it is one, acceptable if its two, but all the songs.C'mon, give me a break from Electric Guitars flying in the Rain, to James posing in his ancient constipated hairy look and that other guy doing " i-dunno-what" on his "i-dunno-what".

Bobby Singh's cinematography is impeccable. From the cosy scene of the dingy apartment where Shiney and Shilpa get intimate in almost no light,only lit up by the street red neon, to the skyline reflecting from the glass window pane of Sharman's apartment as Kay Kay and Kangna lean back , covered in white satine,and of course the red umbrella in the middle of the Mumbai Rain, the visuals are as they say eye-candy. Pritam, a very good job. In Dino is the song you will get tired of singing , but you will get back to it yet again. Alvida-umm, KK's version is so cool. And so are the other songs in the soundtrack. The movie certainly has its share of loopholes , but the soundtrack more than makes up for it. All in all, a good entertainer in a long long while.

Bravo!!!! 3 and a Half Stars