Metro... In Dino Review: Women Drive Anurag Basu's Life In A... Metro Sequel, Every Bit Worth The 18-Year Wait

NDTV

13 hours ago

"Hamesha der kar deta hoon main har kaam karne mein,
Zaroori baat kehni ho koi wada nibhana ho,
"Use aawaaz deni ho use wapas bulana ho,
Hamesha der kar deta hoon main."
These lines from Muneer Niyazi's famous ghazal come to mind when Ali Fazal's struggling musician Aakash breaks down in front of his journalist wife Shruti towards the end of Metro... In Dino.
But director Anurag Basu's much-awaited follow-up to his Life in a... Metro, which released 18 years ago to critical acclaim, is worth the wait. Anurag Basu der aaye durust aaye.
Metro... In Dino, which released in theatres on July 4 (Friday), is a good and more realised update of Life in a... Metro.
This new hyperlink romance drama touches upon relevant themes, including #MeToo, inclusion via an LGBTQIA+ subplot, marriage as an institution, commitment phobia, identity, ambition, and abortion, without marking them off like topics on some checklist in order to appear woke but ending up becoming drab. Extramarital affairs, a theme from the original Metro, is explored throughout the short stories.
Women Drive The Narrative In Metro... In Dino
What he may have left missed out on in Life In A... Metro, director Anurag Basu more than compensates for it in this follow-up. Neena Gupta, Konkona Sen Sharma, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Sara Ali Khan, and even that young actor who plays Konkona Sen Sharma and Pankaj Tripathi's on-screen daughter...
All of them are the heroines of their own subplots in the larger scheme of the film. Even if some of these heroines journeys may have started with them not having 'main character energy', they don't take much time to grab the agency bull by its horns.
Unlike Life In A... Metro, the women in Metro... In Dino have had it with the men and their emotional unavailability, infidelity, manipulation, selfishness, and fence-sitting. These women speak out, react and take a call. They may give love (and/or marriage) a second chance but not without making the men earn it. They don't make compromises. They are people with agency, that agency which men on-screen and off-screen have enjoyed since time immemorial.
Well, well, well. How the turntables.
These women are messy, they say hurtful things to their loved ones after years of repressing their feelings, and they make tough, sometimes bad, decisions but they accept when they have crossed the line that's not to be crossed.
None of them is Goddess Sita who crosses the Lakshmana Rekha only to be abducted by Ravana. They are their own heroes, they don't need Lord Ram, they aren't waiting to be rescued.
The Couples (Throuples) Of Metro... In Dino
If you'd watch closely, Metro... In Dino trains its lens on more than the four couples visible in the film's trailer and more than one kind of love.
Neena Gupta, Anupam Kher, and Saswata Chatterjee put on a stellar show as the elderly characters who are trying to decipher a new meaning of love in their twilight years. I really hope Neena Gupta wins an Oscar someday (IYKYK).
An electric Konkona Sen Sharma and the ever-dependable Pankaj Tripathi play a middle-aged married couple Kajol and Monty, who schedule sex like a dentist's appointment, are the crazier and more grown-up versions of Shruti and Monty from Life In A... Metro. Konkona Sen Sharma and Irrfan Khan played the latter characters in the 2007 film. (PS: Irrfan Khan would be proud of Pankaj Tripathi).
Aditya Roy Kapur and Sara Ali Khan are the modern spin on Bunny and Naina, played by Ranbir Kapoor and Deepika Padukone, from 2013's Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani.
Aditya Roy Kapur does get drunk in Metro... In Dino but he's a womanising travel blogger who is constantly on the move (His Parth is the 2025 version of Bunny meets Adi). Sara Ali Khan's Chumki is a confused corporate employee (formerly a medical student) who starts questioning everything about love and marriage once things start going awry at home. Parth and Chumki are what Bunny and Naina would be today. Oh, and there's also a train thrown in the mix. (More Yeh Jawaani... feels).
Ali Fazal and Fatima Sana Shaikh's Akash and Shruti are the perfect example of what happens to a marriage when people let society and family "enter their bedroom", stop communicating effectively and bottle up emotions.
Akash and Shruti are ambitious but in very different ways. They try sacrificing for each other until bitterness starts to fester, they prefer texting over talking. Soon, they take each other for granted, name calling begins, and they start moving away from each other.
In a heartbreaking scene, an outgoing but shy teenager, who is too concerned about being misjudged by her parents and society for having doubts about her sexual orientation, seeks help from an AI app. At another point in time of the film's run, her grandfather asks an app to help him locate a smartphone his wife is carrying after she "runs away from home".
Hark Back To Life In A... Metro
If you've watched the original Metro, you'll "scream your heart out" when you see very pointed references to the 2007 movie. If not, you'll still relate to them or find them funny.
The songs of Life In A... Metro, composed by Pritam and sung by a "live" band during the course of the movie, was another living, breathing character whose memory is fresh in the minds of the viewer and music lover who first listened to songs such as Alvida, O Meri Jaan, and Baatein Kuch Ankahi Si, 18 years ago.
The new soundtrack, also by Pritam with a different band also featuring Papon, is a decent upgrade with Zamaana Lage, Dil Ka Kya, and Aur Mohabbat Kitni Karoon. Whether these new tracks will remain in public consciousness after 18 years or so is something to watch out for.
Interestingly, people in the press screening (held on July 3 evening) were getting antsy when the songs would play interspersed with the narrative. They should have known they were coming for an Anurag Basu film in which music is a key component.
This also reflects how cinegoers have become used to about either no songs in a mainstream film or just promotional dancing numbers that appear with the end credits. So, the only way to make them listen to music is this, traditional and situational song-and-dance in the background.
Pop Culture Easter Eggs
Director Anurag Basu himself makes an appearance in a key sequence in Metro... In Dino. The film has Barfi! like emotions, the whimsical quality of Jagga Jasoos, and the chaos of Ludo. There's also another cameo by a director, who is believed to be the god of modern Hindi romance movies.
Watch out for that (almost) killer Mirzapur moment between Pankaj Tripathi and Ali Fazal's characters, even though it's dubbed over the original dialogue.
Making a follow-up to an acclaimed modern classic like Life In A... Metro was a tall task. Metro... In Dino is a bit sanitised when it comes to its outer appearance, its tone is not as sombre as its predecessor. The new movie is, however, a worthy albeit a lighter and timely if not the perfect successor of Life In A... Metro.
In the age of social media, when clueless people are seeking AI's help as friend, philosopher, and guide, and treating dating apps to "meet" their potential matches (or timepass even), Anurag Basu should be praised for making a case for love, the old-school way but with a bit of much-needed wokeness.