ZINDAGI NA MILEGI DOBARA

Males Bond !!

After a row of nonsensical movies, it was a real respites and a great delight watching ZNMD !
Hindi cinema has come a long way from the time when a simple love story or a love triangle was presented in four hours ending with marriage or death of the second hero, to a time where the stress is not on the story, but on life, emotion and above all inter and intrapersonal relationships. The stories today in good movies are real, which raise questions in one’s mind and give answers to many queries of one’s life. ZNMD is another such movie revolving around the lives of three friends .Based on similar lines of that of Dil chahta hai & Three idiots, somewhere this, seemed to touch the heart more.

The movie is about three friends, Imran, Arjun & Kabir played superbly by Farhan Akhtar, Hrithik Roshan & Abhay Deol respectively. The three, as it often happens in real life are entirely different in nature and outlook to life, but are bound with a friendship band. Imran is a simple man from a middle class family, with a carefree attitude towards life, which masks the pathos within him, after he came to know that he was a child out of bedlock ,and the man with whom he grew up, was not his biological father. Imran has a great desire to meet his real father once, even against the wishes of his mother, enacted by Deepti Nawal. Scared of heights, his style was his simple casualness and lively wittiness laced with outrageous pranks. Hrithik is an upwardly mobile, over ambitious man, a money broker, whose only aim in life is to become rich and is in great hurry to become rich at forty, when he can pack up and take retirement and enjoy life. He is well dressed man, prim and proper, with a good taste and a enviable wardrobe and good collections of accessories. Scared of water and considering fun as waste of life, he has a serious attitude towards life and rarely lets his hair down. He thinks, talks, sleeps and lives work and money, to the extent that he has had a chain of breakups due to his obsession for work and indifference to his personal or love life. Kabir is a rich builders son and a simple man with his head on his shoulders. No style ,is his style and his simplicity in spite of being rich is his plus point. He is compassionate and loves travelling and considerate about feelings of all around him.

The story revolves around a vacation on which the three go, as part of the bachelors party of Kabir who is recently engaged under confusion to his father’s business partners daughter. He brings a ring for his mother on her birthday, and during the party when the two families were together, he shows it to the girl who mistakes it as a proposal and their engagement is declared in the party. Though he was really not willing for the relationship, the gentleman that he was, he couldn’t say no and went ahead preparing for the marriage. He wants the three friends to be together before they enter their married lives ,and hence plans a holiday and with a great difficulty convinces the other two to join and to be together after four years .Kabir was not only busy but wanted to avoid meeting Imran, because of a misunderstanding created by Kabirs ex girlfriend, who was double timing the two of them. They spend some wonderful time, reliving the days when they were young and experimented all, from deep sea diving, gliding, pubs,geting drunk, rides, site seeing, playing pranks and enjoying life to the fullest. They spent these days as if kal ho na ho, freaking out in the crazy tomato festival and daring the bull game of Spain

The holiday proved more than just a break and changed the lives of all three. Imran, tracks and meets his biological father ,played by Nasiruddin Shah, and was crestfallen to know that he ,had no remorse and repentance of what happened, and he had not only had no guilt leaving behind his pregnant girlfriend to fend for herself just because he wanted to be free and to pursue his passions of life, but had never had the desire to met his son, though he knew about his existence. Arjun meets Laila, played by Katrina, who is their diving instructor. He is mesmerised by her beauty, charm and warmth and finds his ladylove in her. Kabirs fiancé behaves like a typical woman, suspicious of what the three were doing alone and actually lands up there to confirm that he is not flirting with Laila. Her plans for the future scare kabir who realizes that neither he is ready for losing his independence in marriage and nor does he love her, and finally breaks his engagement.

All have acted to their best with great exhibition of histrionics. Farhan Akhtar appears a veteran and depicts the complex contrast of casualness and seriousness of his character realistically. His spontaneity is admirable and effortless and the expression of emotions heart touching. Javeds poetry narrated by him moves the soul and forms the essence of the movie. Hrithik is par excellence as always as a meticulously and tastefully dressed live sculpture. Not only the beautifully choreographed dance movements but every action of his body was better than the best of ballets. His husky voice, depth in the eyes and expressions on the face beautifully portray the loneliness within him and the need for love. Abhay Deol is the moderator in the gang and has exhibited the maturity naturally and acted well, as in all his movies. This was probably the best role for Kathrina, ever and tailor-made just for her. She has not only done great justice to the character but has brought glamour to the man dominated story. Kalika, as Kabirs fiancé has suited well, and proved that the Indian audience is willing to accept unconventional faces on screen. Deepti Naval and Nassirudin Shah ,even in their small roles have left great impact.

The movie was a virtual trip to Spain, the virgin locale that has been unexplored by Bollywood till now. The outdoor locations are beautiful and picturesque and the culture of Spain inviting. The pubs, tap dance, tomato festival and the Bull game are all entertaining. The gliding and the deep sea diving adds to the glamour. The underwater scenes are pleasantly colourful but let out the secret of being artificial studio creations, evident due to the uneven distribution of the fish on the screen. The storyline is strong, the dialogues natural and the screenplay smooth, The pace, though a little slow at places, maintained the intensity of the creation. The lyrics were poetic and music melodious and the background score enchanting. Cinematography was best possible and editing fabulous. Zoya Akhtars direction added the professional touch to the movie and proved that talent runs in genes. The movie belongs to the three Akhtars, Javed, Joya and Farhaan!

Outside the wonderful story, the movie leaves a message from each one’s life. Imran learns that many truths in life are better not known, Arjun realizes that life cannot be run by the clock and in immaculate discipline and there is more to life than, work, career and money and it is not possible to survive without love while Kabir experiences that decisions regarding matters of love and marriage cannot be taken in an impulse or under pressure. But the most important message of ZNMD is the glorification of male bonding, which is not only everlasting, but is above all pretensions of life and beyond petty or even major differences. The movie has elevated friendship to its well deserved supreme status in all relationships, where it has no restrictions and limitations and is at times even beyond those with parents, girlfriends and spouses .The movie should actually have been released, two weeks later on Friendship day as it has immortalised friendship on celluloid !

Dr Sanjay Kapoor, Lucknow