There’s a tender chaos to Anurag Basu’s Metro In Dino, a film that stumbles, dances, and ultimately embraces the imperfect poetry of urban love. A spiritual cousin to his 2007 film Life in a… Metro, this new chapter widens the canvas from just Mumbai to Delhi, Bangalore, Kolkata, letting multiple love stories bloom in the cracks of India’s fast cities.
The idea is simple: throw together a clutch of flawed, funny, yearning people and see how their hearts collide. But the effect is far richer. Here, love isn’t a single story, it’s a hundred little questions about who we are, what we want, and whether we’re brave enough to say it out loud.
At a glance
Film: Metro In Dino (Theatres)
Director: Anurag Basu
Cast: Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Konkona Sen Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal, Fatima Sana Sheikh, Aditya Roy Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan
Rating: ★★★★☆
Pritam’s soundtrack is practically a character in itself. The songs slip into scenes not as background fluff, but as emotional short-cuts to the soul. They let characters speak without words, letting us float on their confessions, fears, and hopes. It’s an album you’ll want on repeat long after the film’s over.
Love in many shades
The cast brings Basu’s bustling script alive.
Pankaj Tripathi and Konkona Sen Sharma anchor the film with raw honesty. He’s a man buckling under guilt; she’s trying to rebuild a life of dignity. Neena Gupta and Anupam Kher give us gentle laughs and lump-in-throat moments, proving it’s never too late to love again. Ali Fazal and Fatima Sana Shaikh wrestle with ambition vs intimacy a relatable tug-of-war for today’s young couples. Sara Ali Khan and Aditya Roy Kapur capture modern romance with all its playful uncertainty, commitment jitters, and app-driven half-promises.
But perhaps the most quietly revolutionary thread is the one involving Tripathi and Konkona’s teenage daughter, Piu (played by Director Anurag Basu’s younger daughter, Ahana Basu), who is tenderly exploring her sexuality. In a series of beautifully understated scenes, we see her navigate the tricky terrain of teenage crushes, wondering if she likes boys, or girls, or both. Her journey is gentle, curious, and treated with a remarkable sensitivity that feels both current and necessary. It’s easily one of the best parts of the film, introducing the crucial theme that love is love, no matter the gender. There’s no heavy sermonising here, just the simple, poignant realisation of a young person trying to figure out who she is, and who makes her heart flutter.
A little overstuffed, but still moving
The film isn’t without bumps. The second half meanders, and with so many stories fighting for space, some arcs lose steam. Basu’s indulgence with emotional climaxes sometimes tips into melodrama. But there’s something almost charming about how Metro In Dino wears its heart so openly.
Those who loved the first part, Life in a Metro (2007) will miss Irrfan Khan’s giagantic presence and singer KK’s voice.
At its core, this film is a warm, messy, musical love letter to the cities we live in and the many ways we try to love within them. It’s about marriages stumbling back to honesty, old flames reigniting, teenagers discovering first crushes and yes, a brave little subplot about finding who you’re attracted to, beyond old rules.
Basu doesn’t tie everything up in pretty bows, because love rarely does. What he does instead is invite us to sit back, listen to Pritam’s soulful tunes, and remember how delightfully confusing and utterly worth it this whole business of love really is.
