‘Metro...In Dino’ review: Chaotic but beautiful

Film: Metro...In Dino

Director: Anurag Basu

Star cast: Konkona Sen Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi, Sara Ali Khan, Aditya Roy Kapur, Neena Gupta, Anupam Kher, Ali Faizal and Fatima Sana Shaikh

Rating: 3 stars out of 5

Back in 2007, Steve Jobs had just launched the first iPhone with a 2MP camera. Blackberrys were cool, ‘Orkut’ was our social media universe and Bengaluru wasn’t yet the tech beast it is today. Life felt slower, simpler. People read books in the metro, love was about feelings, not filters and even though relationships were messy, they felt more real.

Cut to 2025. We now turn to AI for dating advice, make reels inside the Delhi Metro while abusing fellow passengers and chase likes harder than we ever chased exam marks. The idea of love has been swiped, filtered, and hashtagged into something unrecognisable. But in the middle of this chaos, Anurag Basu is still here, spinning old-school romance stories in modern cityscapes.

Just like his 2007 film ‘Life in a Metro’, which followed nine people juggling life, love and infidelity in Mumbai, Basu’s ‘Metro…In Dino’ is a spiritual sequel that explores relationships in today’s world with four couples. The problems like confused love, commitment issues and cheating, aren’t new, but the way we deal with them now definitely is. The film also tries to touch on #MeToo and includes an LGBTQIA+ angle.

Basu brings back the ‘silver love’ angle with Neena Gupta, Anupam Kher and Saswata Chatterjee, but unlike the warmth we saw with Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali in the first film, this one feels more forced. Especially Neena’s loud and bizarre take as a stepmother-in-law. It just doesn’t land.

Then there’s Aditya Roy Kapur and Sara Ali Khan representing Gen Z. Sara’s performance is actually refreshing despite a weird wig and a rushed proposal scene. Aditya, with his round glasses and awkward charm, feels like a mashup of Ranbir’s characters from ‘Jagga Jasoos’ and ‘Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani’. But together, they have sweet, watchable chemistry. Ali Fazal and Fatima Sana Shaikh, however, get the short end of the stick. Their track, about a married couple in love but pulling in different directions, starts off well but soon feels repetitive and drags down the film’s energy.

But the real magic happens with Konkona Sen Sharma and Pankaj Tripathi. Konkona, the only actor returning from the original film, is paired with Pankaj in a middle-aged love story that’s quirky, vulnerable and relatable. Pankaj plays Monty, a character name that immediately reminds us of Irrfan’s charm from the 2007 version. And while no one can match Irrfan’s magic, Pankaj does a good job. Irrfan would be proud of him. Their scenes light up the film and honestly, you’ll wish a movie was made about them. Manifesting that one!

Unlike ‘Life in a Metro’, which mostly focused on the men and their emotional baggage, this time around, it’s the women who take centre stage. And it’s not just about Mumbai anymore. The story hops across cities like Delhi, Pune, Goa and Kolkata, making the chaos feel more universal.

The original ‘Life in a Metro’ gave us musical gems like ‘Alvida’, ‘O Meri Jaan’ and ‘Baatein Kuch Ankahi Si’. They still hit hard even today. Basu’s signature style of blending music into storytelling worked wonders back then. This time, though, the soundtrack feels overstuffed. Apart from ‘Zamaana Lage’ and ‘Aur Mohabbat Kitni Karoon’, nothing really sticks. Sorry, Pritam. Too many songs slow down the story instead of lifting it.

Yes, love today is fast-paced, just like the way we scroll reels. But the ache, the longing, the butterflies? They haven’t gone anywhere. And that’s what Basu taps into. ‘Metro…In Dino’ has flaws, but then, it isn’t trying to be one of those loud, OTT Bollywood noisy action films. It doesn’t need explosions to make a point. It just quietly sneaks up on you and warms your heart. Watch it or like Irrfan’s Monty said, ‘take a chance’.