Metro… in Dino: Lyrical beats of love & life in a metro
When the opening song itself gives you sharp snapshots of its lead characters, a whole battery of them, you wonder where the story can go from there. More importantly, as ‘Metro… in Dino’, a sequel of ‘Life in a Metro’, marks its date with the silver screen nearly 18 years after the beautiful prequel won our hearts, you also marvel at what more can the writer-director Anurag Basu offer.
Though the film’s title literally means “metro these days”, have love and relationships really transformed in these two decades that we deserve yet another dose of it? Yes, we are made to believe, when we meet Sara Ali Khan’s Chumki, who sings “meri dasha hai confusion”. She alone is not emblematic of the new-world values of modern-day romance. Aditya Roy Kapur’s commitment-phobic Parth hops from one relationship to another.
Pankaj Tripathi’s Monty, like most husbands after years of married life, is simply bored. Marriage, love and the messiness of it all is still the fulcrum of Basu’s storytelling. Much of what he reveals are life’s home truths perhaps we already are familiar with, and which have already been explored in many films.
Married men are looking for that additional spice on dating apps. Young couples like Akash (Ali Fazal) and Shruti (Fatima Sana Sheikh) are trying to balance the demands of married life with creative aspirations. Elderly women like Neena Gupta’s Shibani are still advising their daughters to forgive their erring men. So, the moot point here is not what and where, but how beautifully Basu takes us into the lives of these men and women, makes us own most of them, feel for them as we sing along.
In this musical, more than one song by Pritam, especially ‘Dil Ka Kya’, stays with us.
Right from the onset, there is a song on the lips of its characters and one beating in our hearts. In a good musical, songs are meant to be more than fillers, an integral element taking the story forward. And Basu delivers like a pro. The idea is to make us smile, cry and even entertain… all three counts on which the film (and its musical score) scores. If Basu manages the complex demands of a musical by putting his musicians at the front and centre of his narrative, he handles an ensemble cast with equal ease.
When actors are of the calibre of Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Pankaj Tripathi, Konkona Sen Sharma and Saswata Chatterjee, is it even humanly possible to give them enough space, let alone make them shine? Yet, they all stand out in their respective spheres. Even Saswata as Neena Gupta’s reel husband, who initially seems to exist on the margins, fleshes out into a husband and father we root for. If veterans make the most of their well-etched parts, younger actors like Fatima Sana Sheikh and Ali Fazal, too, are impressive.
Sara Ali Khan’s Chumki grates to begin with, but soon grows on you. Her romantic track with Aditya Roy Kapoor’s Parth (endearingly effective) is on expected lines; behind confusion lurks love.
On the face of it, Pankaj Tripathi and Konkona as a couple might seem misplaced, if not jarring. And you do miss Irrfan Khan’s irrepressible Monty. After all, who can forget that chuckle-worthy scene when he arrives on a shaadi ki ghodi, all dressed up as the groom, trying to woo his reluctant bride-to-be with “Ab toh blouse bhi sil gaye hai”, with a deadpan expression. Tripathi, walking in Irrfan’s shoes, soon makes you forget the late actor.
His chemistry with Konkona might not sizzle, but has all the ingredients that make love feel organic.
The real strength of the film is that love never comes across as an artifice. Even when Neena Gupta and Anupam Kher’s playact is, as they themselves put it, “bizarre”.
“Hum sab line cross kar jaate hain…” says Fatima as Shruti. Only Basu stays well within the line. “Hum sab ki apni apni morality hoti hai” and as long as we don’t hurt others, we are all entitled to our share of happiness, are only dialogues. But Laxman rekhas are never crossed. So, in that sense, don’t expect any earth-shattering expose into the fake lives of urban men and women. Instead, what we get are heartwarming vignettes of sweet-salt relationships which tug at our heartstrings.
To make viewers emotional in a musical is a rare feat. Only Basu doesn’t let go off the emotional grip and has his fingers on the emotional pulse of his film.
One could argue that there are some convenient resolutions to the conundrum each person faces. The emotional tangles are untangled all too easily. But then, love conquers all… and like Basu’s ‘Barfi’, ‘Metro… in Dino’ celebrates love above all. In all its shades and hues and not always the romantic one; Kher’s father-in-law act makes our hearts ache.
If you think the adult love angle between Dharmendra and Nafisa Ali was unforgettable in ‘Life in a Metro’, Kher’s bond with Neena Gupta is on similar lines, yet not quite. Basu does follow the spirit of the original but does not repeat himself in entirety. Watch love with its complexities and beauty unfold.
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