Oct 19, 2011 10:41 PM
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The long wait for the fourth of the ‘Farhan Akhtar’ Series was over. I call it a ‘series’, simply because they speak the same theme, without boring ourselves, and they follow a patter, without looking mundane. The ‘Coming-of-age’ theme, which was so central in his earlier movies like ‘Dil Chahta Hei’, ‘Lakshya’ and ‘Rock-on’ is employed here too, and so is his ‘ gang of three friends’. There is no central character or a protagonist, and all share the same screen space, never letting the other to hog the limelight.
Zindagy Na Milegi Dobara(ZNMD), too, speaks the same script. A Coming-of-age story of three men, Kabir(played with nuance by Abhay Deol), Arjun(Hrithik, a treat for the eyes) and Imran(impressive and versatile, yet again). Kalki’s Natasha is engaged to Kabir and Laila(Katrina Kaif) is a diving instructor who joins them during their journey in Spain. ZMND tell you to “seize the moment” and live life, for life won’t present you with a second chance. The Movie pretty looked like DCH, but the boys have become more mature, now that it’s almost a decade since the latter released.
The three guys, crack jokes, rock and roll, and do everything that normal youngsters indulge in, except that they don’t abuse. These guys believe, in order to look “cool”, or rather “uber cool”, they don’t need to use the “Fxxx” word every now or they need to fill up their minds with booze and babes(I am not making any comparison with the movie Delhi Belly here).
I am not attempting the story line here, for it will be better if everyone watch the movie at the hall, but yet, I think I can introduce you to the characters here. Kabir is somehow unwillingly engaged to Natasha and now wants to live life his own way. Arjun is a hotshot financial broker whose only aim is to earn a lot of money before he turns 40 and then retire, Imran is a closet poet but works as an advertising copywriter who is in search of his father. Laila is quite a practical girl shelling out pearls of wisdom and is looking out for his ideal guy. All the characters(including that of Katrina), carry in their heart, which they must exorcise ultimately.
The movie is all about how they manage to do this in during their trip to Spain. Like when Arjun tells Imran ‘just let go’, he is infact telling to let go things. If the one-liners of ‘Dil Chahta Hai’ and ‘Rock-On’ were the prime reason for these movie’s cult status, then ZNMD goes one up. The dialogues are crisp, to the point, hilarious – without being indecent – and effective. Watch out for the La Tomatina Scene, which adds spunk and effervescence to an otherwise winsome movie(though I thought the same was a bit stretched).
Talking about performances, Abhay Deol’s Kabir scores over Hrithik with his subtle portrayal of the character. He plays the bridge between Imran and Arjun. Hrithik as Arjun is a treat for the eyes and does justice to his role. Imran equally, hogs screen presence with his versatility, and considering that he himself wrote the script, one needs to take one’s hats off to this talent. Having said that, the real Star of the movie is its surprise ingredient - its dialogues and Javed Saab’s poetry. Rendered through the haunting voice of Farhan Akhtar, the latter simply rides the movie home and made it indeed special.
I feel, these are the kind of movies, that youngsters should watch, for one, they make you think once you come out of the hall, about the way they live life; they tell you that just because one has a family and a life to look forward to, there is no reason why one should not give up things that they were passionate about in their early days. These movies are a mirror to ourselves, who squander our best time of our lives by not living for a purpose. The characters in these movies are very much you and me and that’s probably the reason why drops of tears well up in our eyes when we watch these movies. Perhaps this was also the reason why we jumped up in joy when the ‘Magic Band’ of Rock on performed again, or the threesome in Dil Chahta Hai cuddled again at the climax. We seldom live our lives the way we should live…but has goose-bumps when we see these characters get their calling in life.
This movie, is a must watch, but don’t see it on a pirated DVD or a downloaded version on the TV and rather, mark my words, the movie is best enjoyed munching caramel popcorns with friends on a multiplex! Don’t let go this chance.
==Stand out Scenes ==:-
(i) the climax, the bull-run scene, all three realise their calling in life and discover and makes a pact about what they want to do if they manage to be alive. An absolutely fantastic scene and I would call it as one of the best climax scenes in Bollywood we have so far watched perhaps.
(ii) The love-making scene involving Farhan and a Spanish Girl. Both communicate in their languages unfathomable to the other. Intense!
Director: Zoya Akhtar
ing: Hrithik Roshan, Abhay Deol, Farhan Akhtar, Kalki Kochelin, Katrina Kaif and the Surprise Ingredient
Rating:- 10 Stars out of 5
