Movie Review: Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

            Director: Zoya Akhtar

            Starring: Hrithik Roshan, Farhan Akhtar, Abhay Deol, Kalki Koechlin and                  Katrina Kaif

         ZNMD is a guy film. Or so I thought with all the ‘bromantic’ promos (whoever coined that term needs to patent it), the bachelor-party excuse to travel, snorkelling, sky diving, and running with the bulls. But the film is more than that, way more! The motifs are classic: facing your fears, friendship, love, betrayal, freedom, and Zoya Akthar has woven them with much effort into the fabric of the film, which makes it pretty predictable from the first 10 mins.

The Three Musketeers, Arjun (Hrithik Roshan as an investment banker), Imran (Farhan Akhtar as copywriter), Kabir (Abhay Deol as builder) are childhood friends who take a trip to Spain for Kabir’s bachelor party. The trip presumably is more than just a trip – it’s taking time out to brazen out and introspect. Arjun faces hisdibbe main band life and revisits his ‘mint money now and retire at 40’ mantra – otherwise his is the pragmatic genius of the gang. Imran deals with the news of his recently-discovered biological father and gets rid of his deep-set melancholy only through his poems - otherwise he’s the jack-ass of the gang and the comic in the film. Kabir has to gather his balls, drop his nice-guy act, confront the ‘maybe’ love of his life - otherwise he is a straight-faced trickster with anecdotes, pranks and “Fraud” word association games up his sleeve!

           The women add value to the script; Katrina Kaif will walk away with accolades for playing probably the most real character in her career so far. Kalki Kolechin is effortless in the rich, possessive, my-priority-is-my-fiancé act. Ariadna Cabrol has very little screen time, but she manages to stay with you long after the movie is over.

ZNMD is hilarious with old-school, nonsensical jokes, including teachers with funny accents. It has a ‘bagwati’ moment where Imran dresses up a 12,000 pound Hermes-inspired Jane Birkin bag like a lady, with scarf and whatnots. The way he treats ‘it’ – with respect and dignity – is sweet and ridiculous at the same time. The banter between Imran and Arjun is a fine display of how friends in real life are. And just to reassure you, the ‘I heard something, is it true?’ trick always, always works!

The most gripping parts of the film are the dialogues that go deeper than words to show a smooth camaraderie between the boys. Romance is easy, risky and non-judgemental with an element of purity. The cinematography is stunning! Over a dozen stills from the film can be made into postcards and kept for posterity. Having said that, what steals the heart is Javed Akthar’s poetry – simple, yet deep as it flawlessly captures the muted emotions.

The film gives you confidence – to take that trip you’ve been planning for years, the make-up with friendships gone sour, to watch the horses run and to decide how to live it up!

Burrp! Verdict: ZNMD proves that sometimes it is not what you say, but how you say it that is important.