Dubai's humane tales come alive in Montreal

 
What we don’t know about are the people that make up Dubai — be it its original inhabitants or immigrants who have made it their home.

A film by a first-time director from Dubai, which was screened at the Focus on World Cinema at the 344th Montreal World Film Festival (MWFF), tries to throw light on the lives of these people and how the city plays a role in getting many a dream realised.

Naturally, there are quite a few Indian characters big and small in this story, and two Indian actors — Jaaved Jaffrey and Sonu Sood — are crucial parts of debutante director Ali Mostafa’s City of Life.

The predominantly Arabic language film has a few Hindi dialogues thrown in, as it tells the story of a young privileged Arab, his poor, jobless friend, an Indian taxi driver whose uncanny resemblance to a Bollywood star makes him dream of an acting career, and a Romanian ballerina-turned-air hostess. Through their intertwining stories, the film seeks to pay a tribute to the spirit of Dubai.

Sood plays Basu, a taxi driver from Gujarat who lives a life of grime in Dubai. His resemblance to Bollywood star ‘Peter Patel’ makes him harbour the dream of becoming an actor. He finds his benefactor in Khan, a playboy sort of character played by Jaffrey.