'Metro… In Dino' Movie Review: A City of Strangers, Yet A Symphony Of Second Chances

'Metro… In Dino' Movie Review: Anurag Basu returns with an ensemble musical that captures the quiet ache of city lives, where love, loss, and longing find melody in chaos.

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Director - Anurag Basu

Writers - Anurag Basu, Sandeep Shrivastava and Samrat Chakravarthy

Cast - Sara Ali Khan, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Konkona Sensharma, Pankaj Tripathi, Aditya Roy Kapur, Ali Fazal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Saswata Chatterjee

Duration - 159 minutes

Ratings - 4 Stars

In the city that never sleeps, what would happen when people pause? When they delve into their heartbreak, find love, confront their life choices, or just take a moment for themselves? 'Metro In Dino' is more than a film; it’s a mellow smile in the middle of a traffic jam.

It’s a musical extravaganza of human connections in all their most beautiful and yet broken glory. With Anurag Basu at the helm, and Pritam driving the musical core, this spiritual successor to Life in a Metro gently nudges on your shoulder and urges, listen to your heart.

Set amidst urban chaos, this musical romantic drama anthology weaves together multiple stories, but none of them is perfect, and yet finds beauty in their shortcoming.

Monty (Pankaj Tripathi) and Kajol (Konkona), suffering the wrath of a marriage gone stale. Shibani (Neena Gupta), whose loneliness is masked by attitude and laughter, is still searching for dignity in a lifetime of compromise. Then there's Shruti (Faatima) and Akash (Ali Fazal), struggling with a long-distance marriage, waiting to find a bitter end. And middle of all this madness, there is Chumki (Sara Ali Khan) and Parth (Aditya Roy Kapur), strangers who find each other in the middle of confusion, mistrust, and hope.

It’s hard to find space in an ensemble, but Sara Ali Khan emerges as a delightful surprise. Taking a break from her regular vibrancy or comic timing, here she dials it down and taps into a vulnerable space, which is a hard thing to do. As Chumki, a young woman struggling with emotional baggage. and her own fear of love, Sara brings a raw honesty to the screen. Her eyes do the talking, especially in scenes where silence says more than words ever could. There’s a standout moment when she breaks down not in a dramatic outburst, but in quiet collapse — and you feel every bit of it. This is easily one of Sara’s most mature, grounded performances to date. It’s not flashy, but it’s deeply felt.

Apart from stellar performance, the real soul of the film is its music, which helps characters establish their love, longing, pain, emptiness and hope. Pritam, alongside talented singers such as Papon and Raghav Chaitanya, delivers more than just soundtracks; he delivers emotion. From playful ditties that follow Monty’s goofy attempts at romantic rebellion to heartbreaking melodies that float in the silence between Shruti and Akash, the music never just plays in the background — it lives in every frame. Dialogue, song, silence — everything blends into a seamless emotional current. Anurag Basu has always had a painter’s eye and a poet’s heart, and 'Metro… In Dino' is him at his gentlest.

As usual, Basu juggles multiple plotlines with justifiable tenderness, and they all land equally. The emotional graph of Pankaj-Konkona, Anupam-Neena, Fatima-Ali is presented with realism, and it cuts deeper, not just superficially. The pain, heartbreak, loneliness and the way makers has presented the unspoken expectations of every character, just knocks your socks off, it is relatable, real and painfully close to truth.

The first half passes with flying colours, the second half, just jolts you from a long slumber and hits you with facts, but Basu being a smart filmmaker, make the blow softer, ease it with music and honesty.

The film doesn’t get loud, or dwell in grand gestures or explosive moments, it breaths within its gentle glances, pauses, and quiet epiphanies. It’s a film that asks for your patience and rewards you with warmth.

Flawed yet heartfelt, familiar yet fresh, it is soulful and a musical ode to imperfect love. Watch it for the music, stay for the emotion — and yes, keep an eye on Sara Ali Khan. She’s finally arrived.