Movie Review: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

The entire package is pleasant however, the second half of the film could have been better.

By Jyotsna Kumar

Why do you go on a holiday? Because you want to break free from your hectic lifestyle, mundane office routine, explore a new place; want to have some fun or simply want to skip a certain situation, Bingo! That’s what these ‘Three Musketeers’ wanted to do (they prefer to call themselves that) as they take a trip to Spain in Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara only to realize that the emotional baggage they didn’t want to carry was tagged along.

ZNMD is refreshing and it’s therapeutic in lot of ways- first it refreshes you completely as you take a detour of beautiful locales in Spain. Simultaneously it puts you on a laughter roller-coaster ride and the entire credit for that goes to Farhan Akhtar (good he finally he came out of the closet and exposed his true potential). His one liner’s are funny yet torturous at times, I mean how would you react to dialogues like- how was your flight? Well, it flew! And finally it makes you appreciate small yet beautiful things in life such as to breathe if I keep it simple.

The story line is simple and sweet, Kabir (Abhay Deol) is getting married to Natasha (Kalki Koechlin). He plans a bachelorette party with his friends- Imraan (Farhan Akhtar), Arjun (Hrithik Roshan) and plans a trip to Spain, the only condition is that each has to decide an adventure sport and every one has to participate irrespective of its nature. In the midst of all what happens is bit of introspection as each finds closure. Sounds like a deadly combo of Dil Chahata Hai and Hangover right? Well yes, but only in terms of its basic structure; the sub-text however is original.

No doubt the high point of the film is its location. Each and every frame is a like a postcard. And with each adventure sport you feel like you have taken a plunge. Cinematographer Carlos Catalán did full justice to the location. It’s extremely mature on Zoya Akhtar’s part the way perspectives are shown in this film. It’s not a male centric, male bonding film as it appears to be in promos. What she managed beautifully and maintained throughout the film is a balanced, fair point of view from every character in the film. Javed Akhtar’s poetry puts most complexities of life into perspective. The entire package was pleasant however, the second half of the film could have been better.

Anyway, go and plan a long holiday trip. Make sure you do a face-off with your fear after all you never know when you end up finding closure!

Bollywood@BestMediaInfo.com