Citylights Turns 11: Hansal Mehta Reflects on a Personal Film Made with 'Wounds, Not Postcards'
Filmmaker Hansal Mehta took to Instagram on Friday to mark the 11th anniversary of his 2014 film Citylights, calling it a deeply personal and passionate project born out of love, struggle, and compromise. The film, despite being altered by the studio, has left a lasting impact on Indian cinema and on Mehta himself.
Citylights was the official Hindi remake of the BAFTA-nominated 2013 British film Metro Manila, though Mehta revealed he never watched the original—and still hasn't.
"Citylights Became Ours"
“11 years ago… it began as a remake. I never watched Metro Manila, and I still haven’t. I’ve heard it’s a better film—and perhaps it is. But Citylights became ours. Ritesh Shah’s screenplay gave us a foundation, and we built our own house of truths upon it. It wasn’t perfect. But it was personal.”
"We Shot on a Prayer"
Describing the film’s raw and guerrilla-style shooting, Mehta revealed that the team comprised just 25 members.
“We shot on a prayer. With barely a crew of 25—but the passion of 250. Trains weren’t just metaphors—they were locations. We filmed in live compartments, on bustling platforms, in the middle of a city that was both indifferent and intimate.”
"Every Frame Was Borrowed Light"
“Every scene was sync sound. Every frame was borrowed light. Just a few tubes, a portable generator, and a determination to tell this story. @devagarwal_dp shot the city not as a postcard, but as a wound—raw, flickering, alive.”
Mehta also credited key collaborators including editor Apurva Asrani, casting director Vinraw, and his son Jai Mehta, who served as his chief assistant.
“@vinraw—my casting director, my associate, my brother on this journey—found truth in the faces that passed us by. My son @jaihmehta, then my chief assistant, stood by me through every madness with grace and grit beyond his years. @mandarjkulkarni made sure not a single scene was dubbed—an absolute feat.”
He also praised the hit music by Jeet Gannguli and lyricist Rashmi Virag.
"The Studio Didn’t Release Our Version"
In a moment of painful honesty, Mehta shared that the film’s original director’s cut was never released.
“We made a director’s cut—vulnerable, unvarnished, deeply felt. But the studio didn’t release it. They made us do another cut. A safer, more ‘palatable’ version. A cut born of insecurity. That version was approved. And I’ve carried the wound of that compromise ever since. And yet—what remains, endures.”
"Performances That Still Haunt Me"
Hansal Mehta heaped praise on the lead actors—Rajkummar Rao, Patralekhaa, and Manav Kaul—for their haunting performances.
“@rajkummar_rao in a performance I still believe is his most invisible and most powerful. @patralekhaa as Rakhi—so still, so devastating, a portrayal that haunts me even now. And @manavkaul—who didn’t just make an entrance, he announced himself with thunder.”
"Citylights Was About the Invisible People"
“Citylights was about those the city forgets. The migrants. The invisible. The ones who build the skyline but sleep on its footpaths. Their story is still real. Still painful. Still necessary. Some films make their way into your life. Citylights never left.”
About the Film
Directed by Hansal Mehta, Citylights was presented by Fox Star Studios in association with Mahesh Bhatt and Mukesh Bhatt. It was a poignant remake of the British film Metro Manila, reimagined for the Indian context.
The story follows Deepak Singh, a former army man from Rajasthan, who migrates to Mumbai with his wife and child in search of a better life. But the harsh realities of urban survival soon overwhelm their dreams.