Hansal Mehta has made films across every genre. Yet ‘Citylights’ remains his favourite.‘Citylights’ is Mehta’s ode to the invisible people — those who populate the pavements we often glimpse from our moving cars. The filmmaker zooms in on the life of one such family, drawing us into their world with such intensity and compassion that we can scarcely bear to leave it, even when their lives become unbearably painful.‘Citylights’ possesses a heart large enough to break before our eyes. As Deepak Singh (Rajkummar Rao, that ‘non-actor’ par excellence), his wife Rakhi (Patralekha) and their little daughter relocate from their small universe in Rajasthan to Mumbai, we watch in numbed silence as they are initiated into a world of disillusionment and heartbreak.Hansal, many consider ‘Citylights’ to be your best work.It started out as a remake. We never watched the original ‘Metro Manila’ and I still haven’t. I’m told it’s the better film. It probably is. But ‘Citylights’ became something else for us.We used Ritesh Shah’s script as a canvas and painted our own world upon it — one rooted in the shadows of our city, lit only by whatever light we could find and whatever light we could carry.The film conveys a feeling of unconditional authenticity.The trains in the film weren’t just metaphors. They were our locations. We shot on platforms, in compartments, between crowds and curfews. The city wasn’t a backdrop — it was our set, our soundstage, our silent character.We filmed entirely in sync sound, with barely a generator, a few tube lights and a prayer.The cinematographer deserves special applause.Dev Agarwal, our brave cinematographer, captured the soul of the city in the hush of dawn and the buzz of midnight.Apurva Asrani, with his delicate, intuitive editing, shaped the story in ways that still make me ache. Vinod Rawat — casting director, associate and heartbeat — found faces that weren’t acting but simply being.My son Jai, chief assistant, held the set together like someone far older than his years. And the crew — no more than 25 people, but with the passion of 250. It was madness. The best kind.Where do you place ‘Citylights’ in your oeuvre?‘Citylights’ was one of those films that made me feel like a filmmaker again. Stripped of vanity, it was just craft and chaos.We shot fast. We shot honestly. And somewhere in that urgency, something pure happened.Rajkummar, in what I still believe is his finest performance, was electric in his restraint. A man unravelling quietly, his dignity fraying thread by thread.Patralekha, as Rakhi, was heartbreaking. So still in her suffering, she barely needed words.Manav Kaul, in his first major role, arrived with a presence that demanded attention.The music was a resounding success.‘Muskurane; became the hit. ‘But Soney Do…’ that’s the one etched in my memory. That was the song of the film.Citylights, like Bimal Roy’s ‘Do Bigha Zameen’, was about rural migration.‘Citylights’ was about those the city forgets — the migrants, the invisible, the faceless foundations of urban India.It’s ironic that my post about The Studio was about empathy, especially for the very people whose diktats made this film less than what it could have been. But I’ve learned to make peace with those contradictions. They are part of the process. Part of the journey.Today, 11 years later, I crave that kind of experience again. That kind of hunger. That kind of madness. A time when storytelling was instinct and cinema a form of survival.Today, I dedicate myself to the film we made, the lives it captured, the people who gave it breath, and the bonds it created — Mahesh Bhatt, Rajkummar, Patra and Manav. My enduring collaborators, friends and family.Here’s to Citylights. And the flicker it still leaves behind.But the film was not edited to your liking?The studio, perhaps in its own insecurity, made us create a cut that I can’t fully own.The director’s cut was raw and unvarnished. Maybe it was long. Maybe it was too still. But it had a soul.That’s a version only a few people have seen. I hope that, someday, it finds its way out.I don’t think it’s around anymore. Those drives would have been recycled over and over again.