Review of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara (2011) by Kapil N — 16 Jul 2011

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara is Indian Cinema coming of age, Refreshing!

The Good: Fresh camaraderie amongst the lead cast, Carlos Catalan's camera, SEL's music blended into the proceedings, International caliber style and attention to detail.

The Bad: Length, Lack of 'Indian ness'.

The Verdict: Indian cinema is coming of age, and this movie is a must watch for fans looking for world class cinema in Bollywood.

I went into ZNMD half expecting a censor board approved version of Hangover crossed with an Indian love triangle embedded into a stylized version of Dil Chahta Hai - DCH. What I found was a beautiful, technically proficient and skillfully crafted piece of Indian cinema at its best, directed, produced and acted by a bevy of confident young (yes they are young in bollywood parlance) flagbearers of this generation in Bollywood. Was it 'oscar worthy', may be not... But does this bunch of film makers care about an Academy, just to get their names mispronounced in an Oscar award ceremony, I highly doubt. Go watch the movie for its style, feel good effect, good performances, and a connect with the heart. Especially if you are part of this multiplex going, city living audience who doesn't go looking for reality in a relaxing weekend watch movie.

The film starts with our protagonists in the middle of their current lifestyles, representing their class divide through a display of mundane activities that keep them going day after day. Kabir (Abhay) in the middle of a stinkingly rich urbane setup doing nothing, Arjun (Hrithik) on the trade floor of LSE chasing money as a corporate high flyer and Imran (Farhan) going around as a stylish 2011 avatar of a kurta clad Naseer / Fahrukh Sheik of yesteryears. Kabir is getting married to his papa's friends' daughter Natasha (Kalki) and has marriage blues. He seeks permission for a 3 week fun and frolic in Europe with his best buddies, a la Kajol from DDLJ, but only this time his fianceé is required to allow him without an ultra emotional 'Jaa beta Simran, Jee Ley Apni Zindagi ...'. What follows is a collage of extremely well done light hearted moments, the most beautifully shot road trip in Spain, adventure and touristy activities blended into some life changing poignant movements for all the three protagonists. The trip helps them rediscover their character that they lost in the hubbub of their daily lives, as they return back to do 'what their heart wants'.

Spain will certainly see some recent impulse tourist bookings from Indians, going by how gorgeous the country side looks in Carlos Cantana's magical camera. The male bonding between the 3 protagonists makes you chuckle, and then roar with laughter at times. You can imagine the paan chewing school teacher using words like 'eeschool' and 'buwoys' and school buddies using that years later, to bring back fond memories of their college days. Everybody in the movie looks so amazingly cool and stylish that you forget there is a real world where mortgages, salaries and worries of a city life exist. The screenplay is not at its taut best, and expects the viewer to be immersed into the visual collage to appreciate moments of silence, low activity but the same could be argued with most cinematic masterpieces elsewhere. The performances of the lead cast are first grade and in tune with the mood of the movie, with Farhan clearly standing out for the seamless switch he makes between poetic poignancy and outright college kid mischievousness.

What you should watch this movie however, is for the supreme production values, the movie making fun and the subtle style of narration that is a much needed gift of the new age directors (the Zoyas, the Anurags, the Vishals, the Abhinay Deos, the Imtiaz Alis and their ilk) to Indian cinema. Intelligent is the word... They do not rely on explaining each nuance and twist of the story, but let the cosmo intelligent middle class of India use their sensibilities. In a dance scene Hrithik does his Karo Na Pyar hai jig, and just notice that Abhay does the 'Deol dance' if you know what I mean, but the director doesn't even think of highlighting it. The 3 'heroes' take First Class, Business Class and Economy class respectively for their flights to Spain. And when I saw that I knew this is not Karan Johar candy floss, not that there's anything wrong with that. A friend slaps another in outright anger, and you wonder how dramatic the scene could have been if the movie was made by Yash Chopra. Instead, it is handled with utmost dexterity appreciating a delicate relationship amongst childhood buddies. Kabir's character is shown as a little 'sissy' metrosexual types, afraid of commitment and then the climax very subtly leaves an open interpretation to whether he is up for a typical boy-girl romance. Wow, was it really thought out? If it was, hatsoff to you Zoya and Farhan! Shouldn't be a surprise coming from a brother sister duo who have Shabana Azmi and Javed Akhtar for parents.

The detractors of the movie can point to its length, but who cares when the makers and the lead cast are seemingly having so much fun and expect you to be part of it. The travelogue genre of films is here in India and in what style and panache! Yes you could draw parallels from 'y tu mama tambien', Sideways, Motorcycle Diaries and even Hangover for the uninitiated.. Call it a DCH2 if you will, and why forget DDLJ where Simran went on Euro trip only to return 'enlightented'. But appreciate it for the brilliance of production, adaptation to the modern Indian sensibilities, the wonderful connect, the music and the attention to detail. If Zoya missed a point, it was on connecting with the mass Indian audience who doesn't appreciate ordinary people vacationing in Spain, buying 12000 pound handbags or for that matter breaking into 'chicken dance' in a wedding ceremony that looks completely American.

The only thing that would separate this genre of Indian films from an Oscar would be focus on earthen reality and originality. And then may be India will have an Oscar entry that doesn't rely on dirty slums and filthy railway lines to grab the world's attention, but uses instead the young emerging face of confident India. It is not a co-incidence that the Indian professionals, the cricketers and now the movie makers do not give a damn to conventional stereotypes as they show the world they are world class in what they do. Great going guys... keep it coming.. I know you might make movies for fun and not for Oscars, but then fans won't mind either.