City Lights Review: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
City Lights takes viewers into Bengaluru’s gritty underworld with real ambition, but a familiar, formulaic screenplay and a messy second half keep this Duniya Vijay directorial from truly standing out, even with Umashree stealing every scene she is in.
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (2/5)
Genre: Action Thriller
Runtime: 129 minutes
Director: Duniya Vijay
Cast: Vinay Rajkumar, Monisha Vijayakumar, Umashree
Kannada cinema has had a rough few years, and 2026 has continued that trend, with promising films regularly failing to fully connect with audiences or perform well at the box office.
City Lights arrives carrying real anticipation, marking director Duniya Vijay’s follow-up to his well-received films Salaga and Bheema. Unfortunately, despite its ambitious setting and raw intentions, the film does not quite live up to those expectations.
The story takes viewers into the gritty underbelly of Bengaluru’s Majestic area, a world defined by corruption, politics, rowdyism, and prostitution. Shivu, played by Vinay Rajkumar, arrives in this world simply looking to earn a living, but soon finds himself caught in a conflict with Puneeth, an MLA’s assistant who runs his own gang.
When Shivu attempts to save Monisha, played by Monisha Vijayakumar, from being trafficked, the two end up seeking protection from Ammaji, a feared gangster played by Umashree who leads an all-women and trans-women gang.
The film genuinely tries to explore the darker corners of the city while highlighting the goodness that can exist beneath all that grime and violence, and that ambition is admirable on paper. Duniya Vijay has never shied away from tackling uncomfortable social subjects in his films, and choosing prostitution as his focus here fits that raw, confrontational style he is known for.
The problem is that several conversations and dialogues in City Lights feel like they exist purely for shock value rather than to genuinely serve the story, and that shock often distracts more than it actually impresses.
At a crisp 129 minutes, the film’s first half moves quickly, setting up the central conflict efficiently despite some noticeably out-of-sync dubbing. The second half, unfortunately, is where things really fall apart.
The screenplay starts to feel disjointed, stitching together scenes without much natural flow or transition, and a significant chunk of the runtime shifts focus away from the central characters toward side characters who do not add much meaningful weight to the story.
At times, it genuinely feels like City Lights was built around Charan Raj’s music rather than the other way around. His score is undeniably one of the film’s strongest elements, but the visuals simply do not rise to match its quality.
The film’s biggest weakness ultimately comes down to its formulaic execution, feeling more like an attempt to recycle elements that worked well in Bheema and Salaga rather than organically building a fresh, standalone story.
Performance-wise, Vinay Rajkumar brings genuine screen presence, particularly during the action sequences, and his performance likely would have landed even harder with smoother dubbing. Monisha Vijayakumar makes a convincing debut, showing real potential, though her introductory role does not give her enough space to truly shine.
The clear standout, though, is veteran actress Umashree, who is an absolute show-stealer as the fierce yet compassionate Ammaji. The rest of the supporting cast is more of a mixed bag, with several performers coming across as noticeably amateur on screen.
Technically, the film struggles too. Cinematographer Shivsena shifts unpredictably between handheld, RGV-style shots and more conventional framing, a stylistic inconsistency that shows up even during simple conversation scenes, becoming distracting rather than dynamic.
Editing by Deepu S Kumar also feels underwhelming, with outdated effects and abrupt jump cuts making the film increasingly tiring to sit through as it goes on.
Overall, City Lights joins a growing list of promising but underwhelming Kannada releases in 2026. It also raises a fair question about whether Duniya Vijay simply works better when directing himself. Either way, the film’s dark, ambitious world barely gets the chance to shine before fizzling out under its own indulgent, formulaic execution.
If heartfelt family dramas are more your pace this week, our review of Om Ka Hari, starring Raghubir Yadav and Anshuman Jha, is worth checking out too.