Filmmaker Anurag Basu and actor Konkana Sen Sharma, who have reunited for “Metro…In Dino”, said that their late actor friend Irrfan Khan's absence was keenly felt throughout the shooting process.

The upcoming film is a spiritual sequel to Basu’s 2007 movie “Life in a… Metro”.

"There were many moments in the film when we missed him (Irrfan) during the shooting. There was a scene that we were shooting with Konkana, and the tone of the scene was something that we had shot before.

"There was a silent moment, we exchanged looks, and Koko started crying. We miss him. We miss Kay Kay very much, cameraman Bobby Singh, art director and other people who were an integral part of the film, and are not part of it, so we miss them,” Basu told reporters here last evening.

Konkana, who played Khan's love interest in the first part of the film, echoed similar sentiments.

“Yes (I missed him). ‘Zamaana Lage’ (a song that is a heart-touching ode to lost love) to forget him. But that happened many times, I don’t want to say what and when, you will watch the film, you will know when,” she said.

Konkana said reuniting with Basu for “Metro…In Dino” felt like a homecoming.

“It was homecoming (working on ‘Metro... In Dino’). I was so happy when Anurag called me. It’s so nice to meet people who have their own playful attitude towards life because everyone has some or the other problem.

"I've deep admiration for his (Basu) craft; it is unfathomable how he does what he does. I was like, ‘Oh my god, we can get to do this again, what a fun’. I don’t know how the film got made. I just had to trust him and not worry about anything,” Konkana said.

“Metro…In Dino” will also feature an ensemble cast of Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali Khan, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Pankaj Tripathi, Ali Fazal and Fatima Sana Shaikh.

The film is produced by Bhushan Kumar of T-Series and Anurag Basu Productions Pvt Ltd.

It has music by Pritam, who earlier collaborated with Basu on films “Gangster”, “Life in a… Metro”, “Barfi!”, “Jagga Jasoos”, and “Ludo”.

Reflecting on their creative dynamic, Basu, on a lighter note, said, “We fight like old married couples”.

“Till the time our music doesn't create a love story, we keep fighting. That’s how we work. We fight a lot. We don’t know how we create music; we talk a lot, eat, and music happens,” the director said.

Pritam added, “Sometimes, not always (we fight).” The musician credited Basu for giving him the freedom to explore.

“Anurag finds the correct route, and he gives me the space. He knows how much space to give. We keep on throwing ideas. In any film, a director, music director and lyricist are the trio of a successful film album. He manages the lyrics also; he takes charge of it. Our collaboration is more like a partnership.” "I’ve had the best time creating music with Pritam. He understands the pulse of the script. I’m not a good narrator, but despite that, he understands things and sets the sur of the film. We wanted to make a song that has poetry, we wanted to touch a chord through the song, and he did it with ‘Zamaana Lage’, the first song from the movie,” the director added.

Pritam also praised Bhushan Kumar for his support.

“I’ve been working for more than 20 years, and I haven’t seen anyone as passionate as him (Kumar) about music. He is the most passionate person. He is always awake when you reach out to him, even whether it is at 2:00 am or so. This is his reason for the success,” he said.

The song, "Zamaana Lage" is sung by Arijit Singh and Shashwat Singh, composed by Pritam and lyrics by Indian poet Qaisar Ul Jafri and Sandeep Shrivastava.

“Metro… In Dino” will be released in theatres on July 4.

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