Metro… In Dino Cast/Actors: Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali Khan, Ali Fazal, Fatima Sana Shaikh, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Pankaj Tripathi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Saswata Chatterjee & Others
Metro… In Dino Movie Director: Anurag Basu
Metro… In Dino Movie Production House: T-Series Films & Anurag Basu Productions
Metro… In Dino Movie Release Date: 4th July, 2025
Metro… In Dino Movie Available On: Theatrical Release and (likely to be released on Netflix OTT Platform)
Metro… In Dino Movie Released/Available In Languages: Hindi
Metro… In Dino Movie Runtime: 2h 42m
Metro… In Dino Movie Critic Review:
Holi pukey, it’s Chumki (Sara Ali Khan) who’s had a bit too much of festival revelry. She’s staggered into somebody else’s apartment and caught its resident Parth (Aditya Roy Kapur) in the shower.
Misunderstandings ensue with her boyfriend/fiancé.
Director Anurag Basu along with co-writers Samat Chakraborty and Sandeep Shrivastava zooms into the lives of four couples for an update on their status.
Chumki’s sister Kajol (Konkona Sen Sharma) has stumbled upon a secret interest that husband Monty (Pankaj Tripathi) indulges in – cosy chats with other women. Not quite leading up to a full-bodied extra-marital affair, Monty’s forbidden forays are most amusing.
Chunki and Kajol’s parents, Shivani (Neena Gupta) and Sanjeev (Saswata Chatterjee) have settled down in domestic comfort, the wife clearly under husband’s thumb. A class reunion that she’s been invited to will be her break-free moment especially when she steps into the life of old friend Parimal (Anupam Kher) to help him sort out a rather unusual problem he has with his widowed daughter-in-law.
Parth has a close friend in Shruti (Fatima Sana Shaikh) who’s torn between her struggling musician-husband Akash (Ali Fazal), a career that makes them a long-distance couple and a baby on the way.
Normal, everyday bumps in most relationships.
With infidelity getting confused with infertility and Anurag Basu’s penchant for people hanging out on dizzy heights (Gangster, for instance), the relationships go through cheekiness, happiness and teary-ness, but alive and constantly on the move.
Basu’s format for the franchise is interesting with Pritam, Papon and Raghav Chaitanya providing interludes as they stand, strum and sing away on high landings of buildings. If only they were memorable and melodious tunes, this would’ve been a super musical as well.
The one glaring difference between Then (2007) and Now (2025) is that there is a certain fatigue around relationship stories. From senior citizens finding their voice and freedom (e.g Dhak Dhak) to confused youngsters (Wake Up Sid, Jaane Tu…Ya Jaane Na, Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Tamasha et al), we’ve seen a spate of them. Sometimes you feel Anurag Basu told himself, “I made Metro… years ago. Let’s make a sequel,” instead of an organic space where he had never-explored stories to tell.
However, Basu handles his couples and their hiccups with practised deftness even though there is a discernible slant in favour of the woman that goes overboard. It’s always the man who cheats and who’s cowardly, it’s always the woman who’s wronged and needs to make a statement. That is pandering to today’s lopsided thought. e.g. When a miffed wife walks out on her husband, kid in tow, and walks into her parents’ house, where’s her statement on independence? Again, by going overboard with humiliating the husband, it stops being funny. Konkona as Kajol even looks wicked in some shots. You wonder, if the husband were to teach his straying spouse a lesson, would it be equally acceptable to thus humiliate her?
Fortunately, except for the fleeting curiosity of a teenage schoolgirl who wonders whether she’s straight or gay which is completely kosher, Basu doesn’t cram his story with commonplace, must-have inclusivity like an enforced gay or transgender track, caste or communal cracks or an overdose of smooching and boudoir ardour.
There’s crackling chemistry and spirited performances from the entire cast but it’s Pankaj Tripathi, skipping to rhythm after a coffee house date with a spring in his step, who steals the show.
There is a whiff of freshness in Basu’s situations with a chuckle here and there. And happy endings are always welcome.
Metro… In Dino Watch Or Not?: As the title suggests, this is for the multiplex, metro audience.
Metro… In Dino Review Score Rating: 3 out of 5 (i.e. 3/5)
Metro… In Dino Official Trailer:
Credits: T-Series
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