In 2007, filmmaker Anurag Basu came up with an anthology, Life In A… Metro, that brought out the essence of the city of dreams, Mumbai. The film showed how different lives in this big city are interlinked and go about dealing with each day as it comes. It featured some amazing performances by Dharmendra, Nafisa Ali, Irrfan Khan, Shilpa Shetty Kundra, Shiney Ahuja, Kay Kay Menon, Kangana Ranaut, Sharman Joshi and Konkona Sen Sharma.
Last year, after Irrfan succumbed to cancer and passed away, Anurag, in an interview, revealed that Irrfan had urged him to write a sequel to the 2007 film and he had obliged to it. He had said that he was surely going to make Metro 2 but wishes that he could have made it with the late actor only.
Ask Anurag about any development on the sequel to the 2007 film, and he shares, “Metro 2 is on top of my bucket list. The other day I had an internal meeting with my team of assistants and all, where I read them three new scripts of mine and the first question I received from them was when I am doing Metro 2. So, internally also, everybody in my team thinks that I should start writing Metro 2 as my next, but I don’t know. I just did Ludo, so I don’t want to make an anthology for now so soon.”
So, what films is he working on now? “There are two films, both very different genres and I have started work on both,” he replies without divulging any details. Anurag and Ranbir Kapoor have had an amazing personal and professional relationship, so one might wonder if there is a reunion on the cards for the two. “Ranbir is so busy. He doesn’t have time only. He has so many films in the pipeline,” Anurag says. Even his Ludo actress Fatima Sana Shaikh has been so impressed by him that she had said in an interview that she has asked Anurag to make a full film with her. “I know and it’s my promise to her that I have to make a film with her,” he concludes.
Image source: SpotboyE archives, IMDb, Instagram/snehareviews