Metro…In Dino’s assembly of actors exhaust all their charm at the end of this messy musing on metropolitan monotony, observes Sukanya Verma.
When Anurag Basu made Life In A…Metro in 2007, Bollywood anthologies were still a novelty for moviegoers.
Add to that, its musical roots by Pritam’s sutradhar in rock band mode lend the storytelling a refreshing momentum.
By the time he created Ludo in late 2020, his maverick multi-narrative crime drama was another stylish addition in the genre that hit the overkill mark during the pandemic.
Circa 2025, audiences have grown increasingly picky with a poor attention span flitting more towards streaming than screen.
Metro…In Dino, Basu’s soul sequel to its mid-2000s predecessor, is a reflection of this fuzzy mind chronicling a dozen or so protagonists caught in a clutter of chaos and conflict.
Slice-of-life, coming-of-age, rom-com, couples therapy, love triangle, teenage woes, mid-life crisis, Metro…In Dino‘s mish-mash of themes across Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Pune is a hurricane in need of calmer hands. Instead, Basu’s trademark whimsy revels in sending his characters round and round in circles until they’ve spun long enough and collapsed in a tizzy.
More rueful than romantic than in its outlook, its humour stems from the eternal realisation of illusion versus reality as married couples and singles grapple with disappointments and dreams.
In little less than three hours, Metro…In Dino crams in infidelity, abortion, career choices, sexual orientation, second marriages, office harassment and toxic masculinity in ways that feel more superficial than sympathetic.
There’s an awfully predictable pattern in every single character’s emotional growth every time one snips off her hair as a mark of liberation or screams her lungs out and seeks closure. The problems remain the same and so does Basu’s treatment. For a long time, the movie meanders only to perk up occasionally every time Pankaj Tripathi shows up on a dating app.
Pritam and Co resume their melodious narrator duties introducing its assorted bunch across a musical of rhymes emanating the air and amusement of jingles-meet-Jagga Jasoos.
Most of the inhabitants of Basu’s Metro-verse are related by blood or bump into each other in his oddball idea of meet-cute.
Of these Sara Ki Shayari is probably the reason the filmmaker roped in Sara Ali Khan — otherwise overshadowed by her look-at-my-look in a jarring wig, nose ring and glasses with traces of Love Aaj Kal‘s hokey hangover as she alternates between corporate chic, clumsy and clueless.
It’s good to see Konkona Sen Sharma back on the Metro bandwagon as the delightfully bungling love fool Pankaj Tripathi’s miffed missus charting the course of their dull marriage.
Providing the fuel for Sara’s romantic confusion, Aditya Roy Kapoor sticks to his cool Casanova vibe like he does in every other movie.
Meanwhile, Ali Fazal and Fatima Sana Shaikh portray a young marriage crumbling under life goals colliding with social ambitions. Their arc is far more complicated than the details Basu wants to delve into. Yet, the duo’s throbbing intensity renders it deeply heartfelt.
Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Saswata Chatterjee are relegated to whiny oldies with problems that look as dragged out as Metro…In Dino‘ length.
Secondary characters, including a cameo from Basu and fellow film-maker Imtiaz Ali, are hastily squeezed into its sometimes hectic, sometimes hurried pace.
Its assembly of actors infuse a sense of genuineness but exhaust all their charm at the end of this messy musing on metropolitan monotony.
Pritam’s songs are tuneful but far from groundbreaking.
The writing is sharp but not razor.
Confusing Siri for a sex expert is neither wise nor witty.
Ditto for the unadventurous third act, wherein just as Metro…In Dino appears to get audacious only to completely lose steam.
For all its repent now regret later reckless talk on risk-taking, Metro…In Dino‘s ultimately safe acceptance of life resists every opportunity to step outside the norm.
Metro…In Dino Review Rediff Rating:
