Metro In Dino review: Anurag Basu's film is like beauty of the first monsoon rain

Metro In Dino movie review: Anurag Basu's 'Metro... In Dino' is a gentle reminder of how love seeps into everyday life, much like the first rain of the season. It's an anthology set in Indian metros, where characters feel heart-warmingly real. Basu creates a symphony of romance, regret, and rediscovery.

In Short

• Anurag Basu explores many colours of love in 'Metro... In Dino'
• The film is set across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, and Kolkata
• Four couples portray different love stages and challenges, realistically

It's strange how we have been making stories about love for over a century, and yet, we have no real formula for love itself. What is it, really? A fleeting moment of happiness? A subtle brush of skin? An abrupt exchange of eyes? However it may be defined, stories tell us that love is everything. And so, when Anurag Basu decides to dig deeper into its many colours in 'Metro... In Dino', you feel it - in all its wholesomeness. You feel how love ages, how it arrives unannounced, and what it leaves behind.

The beauty of 'Metro... In Dino' lies in its setting. Basu doesn't just tell stories - he stages emotions. Rain drizzles like a soundtrack. Cities breathe in the background. Love unfurls at a bus stop, on a footpath, under a dim streetlight. The mundanity of these locations is what makes them magical - streets you might have walked on, cafes you might have passed by. That familiarity lends the film its quiet charm, as if reminding us that the most romantic moments are often the most ordinary.

Much like in 'Life in... a Metro', Basu leans into his signature style of converging storytelling. But this time, he goes a step further - he crafts a true-blue musical with nostalgia and grounded emotion - something he wanted to do with 'Jagga Jasoos' earlier, but finally got it right this time.

The film has four couples scattered across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Kolkata, and Pune - each carrying a different shade of love.

Pankaj Tripathi and Konkana Sensharma play a middle-aged couple with a teenage daughter, dealing with the fading spark in their marriage. Neena Gupta and Anupam Kher carry two lonely hearts who never quite got what they wanted from life. Ali Fazal and Fatima Sana Shaikh play a young couple stuck between individuality and intimacy. And Sara Ali Khan and Aditya Roy Kapur's love story feels like destiny's gentle push.

The stories in Basu's romantic universe are interesting, believable, and very romantic. Their conflicts are familiar, and their joys are worth celebrating. An older woman wanting to live her youth at a college reunion, a husband chasing his wife to Goa to apologise, a wife refusing to give up on her husband during hard times, or two strangers falling in love - you feel like you've known these people. You've perhaps been one of them.

It's a musical journey, not just in sound but in rhythm - a soft, swaying flow that lets you soak in the lives on-screen. The performances are unmissable, and the writing, sharp. The film doesn't promise a larger-than-life drama. It celebrates life as it is: messy, warm, imperfect, and beautiful.

In one scene, Tripathi's Monty Sisodia says, "Do ajnabee, Anjana safar. Kuch nahi bana toh kahaani banegi (Two strangers, an unknown journey. Even if nothing happens, a story will remain)." Tripathi is the heart of the film. He is familiar, warm, and quietly powerful. He anchors emotions with such subtlety that his scenes become a delight to watch.

Konkana and Ali Fazal, especially, take over with mature, layered performances. An emotional breakdown on a video call - simple and raw - shows Ali at his best, making you feel the ache of a man who doesn't know how to ask for help. Ali's Akash looks so torn and deeply agonising that you feel for him - you see his helplessness.

Basu weaves a world that feels painted with love. 'Metro... In Dino' is probably the perfect love story for monsoon. It is drenched in rain, but also captures that very essence of longing, waiting, and release. The cities - their chaos and silence - become part of the narrative. The visuals seem soaked in poetry - traffic flowing past glass windows, lovers talking on balconies overlooking skylines, yellow taxis in Kolkata zipping past the characters - Basu doesn't show you cities, he makes you feel them, speak to them.

This is not a one-toned film. It's vibrant, colourful, textured, and leaves you with a smile when the credits roll. For audiences yearning for a romantic film that feels both meaningful and breezy, this is it.

The music, by Pritam Chakraborty, deserves its moment. It doesn't decorate the film, it defines it. Without it, the anthology wouldn't be what it is - a lived-in, melodic experience. The songs elevate the story into a memory. And if you are someone who loved 'Life in a... Metro', you will find the music of this one a low-key tribute to KK, whose songs brought the 2007 film alive.

There are delightful bonuses too: Basu makes a quiet cameo, Imtiaz Ali plays himself, and there’s even a blink-and-miss Guddu-Kaleen Bhaiya moment (IYKYK). From innocent 'Jab We Met'-style charm to mature, melodic love, 'Metro... In Dino' offers everything - and all of it makes perfect sense.

'Metro In Dino' lets you feel. Every frame looks straight out of an art exhibition, and every song conveys something. This is cinema at its beautiful, honest best.

- Ends
4 out of 5 stars to 'Metro...In Dino'