Even though the age groups of the casting sort of match the 2007 film, Metro In Dino, the spiritual sequel to “Life in a Metro,” has a lot of things that are extremely different from the first one. Anurag Basu has decided to stay away from the grey zones, and what we get is this breezy and fun take on mature relationship dilemmas. There are no tragic endings here where you sort of feel bad for the characters for what they have gone through. The visual mood of the movie is extremely bright, and the film is very much a musical and would remind you of Basu’s OTT original film Ludo in many ways.
The story this time is shuttling between Bangalore, Pune, and Kolkata. Kajol and Monty are living this compromised married life, which looks perfect for the outer world. Kajol’s sister Chumki is engaged to her long-time boyfriend, who has trust issues with her. Their mother Shibani is also living this adjustment-marriage life with her husband Sanjeev. Along with these people, we have another couple, Shruti and Akash, who are close to Parth, someone Chumki met in Bangalore. What we see in Metro in Dino is the relationship hurdles in the lives of all these people.
The difference in duration between the 2007 movie and this one is almost half an hour. And to be frank, that half an hour feels like a stretched one. Like I already said, Anurag Basu, who has written the story, is not trying to make any of the stories tragic or grey. Except for the Shruti-Akash story, which feels more like a practical romantic one, every other chapter is narrated through humor, and the Anupam Kher story was a bit too cheesy in my opinion. The variety it offers to the viewers is definitely broadening the movie’s scope to address several topics, and it is possible that at least one of them would end up as a relatable one to the audience.
Anurag Basu, who is known for having a basic script and improvising it while shooting the movie, seems to have done the same here as well, as we can see certain areas like the Goa chapter of Kajol and Monty or the Oscar acting of Shibani, getting stretched far too much for the sake of some comedy. From being a musical to having these bright and evenly lit frames in most scenes, the movie is distancing itself from Life in a Metro, not just in terms of philosophy but in terms of look and feel as well. The singers who used to wear Black in the 2007 film are all wearing white this time, denoting the pleasant tone shift.
Recently, when I rewatched Life In a Metro, the film-era technical glitches were sort of bothering me. But the excessive use of green screen in Metro in Dino was even more irritating. The music this time is definitely catchy, and since they have gone for this hybrid style with some songs being musical and some being the conventional ones, the album also feels different. However, the 2007 one still feels superior.
Pankaj Tripathi and Konkana Sen Sharma as Monty and Kajol are fun to watch, and that’s the one track that sort of ate a major chunk of the runtime. While the performances of these two were solid, I thought the writing lost control in that subplot. The Chumki love story featuring Aditya Roy Kapoor and Sara Ali Khan is almost like a beta Ok Jaanu. Even though it has its moments here and there, the familiarity of that track somewhere makes it a very regular one. The setup of the senior citizen’s love story, featuring the free-flowing veterans Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, and Saswata Chatterjee, felt promising. But towards the end, that track also opted for some outlandish stuff. The most romantic and grounded story among all this was the Shruti-Akash track, performed beautifully by Fatima Sana Shaikh and Ali Fazal. But because of the crowdedness and the importance given to humor, that subplot couldn’t get much time.
It might be unintentional, but just like how this movie says this philosphy that, growing out of love is normal and you need to fall in love with the same person again and again by taking consistent effort, Metro In Dino is also falling apart by lingering on to certain tracks for far too long and it somehow gains back the momentum by latching on to another track. If you can tolerate the unnecessary stretching done to certain tracks by Anurag Basu, this cheerful relationship drama, which feels more like a sequel to Ludo than Life in a Metro, can be a harmless fun film.
