Metro In Dino Movie Review | Urban Emotions in Motion

Title: Metro In Dino
Director: Anurag Basu
Cast: Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Konkona Sen Sharma, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali Khan, Ali Fazal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Saswata Chatterjee, Darshana Banik, Rohan Gurbaxani, Kush Jotwani
Run Time: 2 hours 43 mins
Theatrical Release: 4 July 2025
Music: Pritam

Metro In Dino is a Hindi-language musical-romantic drama and a spiritual successor to Anurag Basu’s acclaimed ‘Life in a… Metro’ (2007). More than a sequel, it feels like a nostalgic echo an emotional update for a new era. Blending music, melancholy, modernity, and a gentle sense of humour, Anurag Basu crafts a storyscape where love is often misread, rediscovered, and sometimes merely survived.

This isn’t a traditional anthology… it loosely follows four interwoven narratives spread across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Bangalore. The film maps a wide emotional arc: youthful confusion, midlife dilemmas, the loneliness of late-life love, and the internal tug-of-war between ambition and affection. In doing so, Metro… In Dino completes a thematic trilogy of hyperlink cinema from Anurag Basu (Life in a… Metro > Ludo > Metro… In Dino), each a meditation on chaos, connection, and coincidence.

The film opens with an extended character montage set to music, introducing the ensemble cast as Pritam and his band perform live serving both as a musical thread and emotional narrator. While the sequence feels overlong and risks testing patience, it’s a narrative necessity given the number of characters and interconnections the story is about to explore.

Stories Within the Cityscape

Each love story is tinted with a unique emotional hue:

Pankaj Tripathi (Monty) & Konkona Sen Sharma (Kajol): Their witty, layered interactions over dating apps begin with laughter and end in poignant reflection. Pankaj Tripathi is predictably brilliant dry, droll, and deeply human while Konkona brings back a mature restlessness that recalls her 2007 character but in a refreshed context.

Aditya Roy Kapur (Parth) & Sara Ali Khan (Chumki): Perhaps the most twisted and unpredictable pair, their story walks the fine line between spontaneity and emotional chaos. Sara surprises with a performance that’s equal parts reckless and raw, while Aditya shines in a more grounded, internalized portrayal.

 

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Anupam Kher (Parimal) & Neena Gupta (Shivani):

A beautifully restrained portrayal of elderly companionship. Without resorting to slapstick or pity, Basu gives them dignity, humour, and heartbreak respectfully showcasing a kind of love seldom seen in Hindi cinema. Their story doesn’t aim for laughs, but still finds moments of lightness amidst heavier themes of loneliness, regret, and hope.

Ali Fazal (Akash) & Fatima Sana Shaikh (Shruti):

The most serious of the four tales sombre, quiet, and steeped in emotional weight. Fazal’s vulnerability plays well against Fatima’s guarded warmth. Their arc feels rooted in unspoken trauma and subtle healing, providing a grounded contrast to the other, more dramatic pairings.

One of the film’s most unexpectedly bold moments features Pankaj Tripathi in a nearly bare-all public scene, not played for titillation, but for poignancy. It’s a narrative-driven choice that underscores his character’s emotional vulnerability and shifting identity, and it’s to Basu’s credit that it never feels cheap or misplaced.

Music: Nostalgia Without the High

For a film titled after a track (In Dino – ‘Life in a… Metro’) that once defined heartbreak for a generation, the soundtrack this time feels underwhelming. Pritam’s compositions are pleasant but rarely stirring. While the live-band concept is novel and well-intentioned, it lacks the haunting melancholy or lyrical punch of the 2007 album. It’s a missed opportunity in an otherwise emotionally rich film. Songs like ‘Dil Ka Kya’ and ‘Zamaana Lage’ strike an emotional chord, though nostalgia for iconic KK-led originals remains strong.

Also Read: Metro In Dino – Dhaagena Tinak Dhin Song Lyrics starring Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali Khan, Ali Fazal, Fatima Sana Shaikh

 

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Themes and Takeaways

Metro In Dino is not just about love it’s about loneliness in crowded places, about how proximity doesn’t always mean intimacy, and how silence can sometimes speak louder than words. It’s about the layers we wear, the wounds we carry, and the unlikely connections that hold us together for a moment—maybe a lifetime, maybe less.

At its best, the film reminds us that love, in any form or phase, is messy, hopeful, and occasionally, redemptive. Anurag Basu doesn’t moralize—he observes, he listens, he feels. The city is his stage, and its people are all flawed protagonists, stumbling through life in search of something resembling meaning.

Metro… In Dino subtly echoes Life in a… Metro through both form and feeling. Konkona Sen Sharma’s return, though not the same character, creates a sense of narrative continuity, symbolizing emotional evolution over time. The use of a live band (Pritam and his group) once again acts as a musical chorus, bridging scenes and sentiments, much like in the 2007 film. Themes of infidelity, urban loneliness, second chances, and love across age brackets all resurface, but with softer, more mature handling. These callbacks don’t feel forced; rather, they root the new film in a familiar emotional landscape, updated for a changing generation.

Verdict

While Metro In Dino doesn’t quite reach the raw emotional punch of its predecessor, it finds its own rhythm—a softer, more introspective beat for a generation caught between reels and reality. It’s not a perfect film, but it’s an honest one, and sometimes, that’s enough.