ZNMD - Movie Review

9:14 PM Shanky 2 Comments

3 friends, their problems, a road trip that brings a fresh persepctive to their lives and paves a new way to live - This is Zindagi Na Milegi dobara for you in one line. Zoya Akthar has scripted an entertaining movie that captures, very naturally, the chemistry between the friends.
The movie opens with Abhay (Kabeer) proposing to Kalki and the ensuing party. Abhay plans a bachelor party for his college buddies, Hrithik (Arjun) and Farhan (Imran), in the form of a road trip to Spain. Kalki on the side lines is being brain washed by her friends that the road trip is not a good idea. The twist in this road trip is that each of them plan a surprise for the other two in the form of a sport in Spain. What are these surprises? What transformation does this journey do to their perspective of life & relationship? How do they cope up with their emotions and how do they help each other to cope up with the roller coaster journey? To get the answer to all these questions, you must watch this thorough entertainer. As a statutory warning, though, I must say that you guys should not relate this to any other previous films just because it has 3 friends. The characters are very different, backdrop is grander and posh, most importantly the adventure is more breathtaking than the earlier ones. All in all, in management terms this is an aspirational movie for most of us while it is a comparator/must have for the really rich dudes ;)

The friends in this movie slap and hit each other, dance together, get irritated at each others action where a human has to get irritated. One of the best parts of the movie is the natural humor that runs between them throughout. There are no jokes per se but there are witty moments that we ourselves might have done in our lives with our friends or on our friends and these are the moments that are most enjoyable. While Hritik and Farhan were their natural self, Abhay was a bit of a let down. I dont know why, but I dont see him as a great actor. The girls do their bit in the movie. Katrina is better in ZNMD than in other movies yet can do a lot better than this. However, Kalki Kochelin fits very well into her character as the possesive bride-to-be (I think most of the gals can "naturally" do this character :P). The moment she shows up in the bachelor party/ road trip, the entire theatre gasped! People around me were muttering various versions of "What the fuck man!?" The third chic from Spain was put into the movie just so that Farhan did not feel left out. There was no rhyme or reason or even chemistry in their romance nor was it emotional. She was just added to the movie like an after thought or so I felt. 

Coming to the technical aspects, I am not a critique or anything but as an aam admi I loved the rerecording and cinematography. Spain was presented in all its splendour by the team. Also, all the adventure these guys go through were very real and I felt like I was experiencing it. My heart skipped a beat when the adventure starts, then concentration shifts to performing the act and then when it is all over, I felt elated as much as they were on screen. All this feeling of togetherness with the act was possible by a talented cinematographer and some awesome rerecording. Editing and screen play were almost perfect except for a few places where I felt scenes were disconnected. Zoya has also introduced small "sachet" flashbacks at the right time in the movie. Intelligent screen play gave enough room for me to connect the dots in the movie. For example the final scene the friends make a promise to be executed if they survive the final adventure. And when the three of them run for a second time I was reminded of the scene when Hritik says that every thing is written. I think the second run was introduced just to tell us that they wanted to test if it is written for them to execute the promises, for such were the impact these promises will create in their lives. There are other such scenes (Of course I will not spoil the fun for you by revealing them) which makes it an enjoyable movie to watch. I must say that though  Zoya has done only two movies, she is already in my safe list of directors whose movies I shall pay and watch without waiting for other reviews.

All in all, its a good movie to watch that I will recommend to my friends and boss alike ;) For the first time I stood in the queue for around 40 mins only to be told that HP7 was sold out for the day. So I got tickets for my second choice for the weekend which was ZNMD. Inspite of all this I loved the movie. You the Go watch it the soon bo(a)y! ;)

PS: Being a marketing enthusiast I cannot but notice the numerous product placement and partnerships this movie has featured! Will this be a new trend in Indian marketing?

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2 comments:

  1. For once, a refreshing movie indeed though scenes that were retro-fitted appeared to be cliched!! Breaktaking locales, amazing cinematography of the adventure scenes, good character potrayals(perfect casting for katrina) and a competent script! But i disagree about Abhay's performance! I thought he was more than adequate, but if ur referring to some of the scenes where he amuses his friends by scarring strangers, i think it's because humor is not something that comes naturally to Abhay who is known to play serious roles. he pulled off those scenes, but that is my point about retro-fitting. Maybe farhan cud ve done those scenes given his laidback nature. but then Abhay wud ve been just an additional baggage with nothing to contribute

    P.S: you are so far gone off that everything u write has marketing connatations. Lay off the marketing/brand building books u took under ur pillow bro!

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  2. Will take the point about Abhay da. I think that might be the case and also that he reminds me of the other deols!! This is the first movie in which I liked Katrina a little bit..:) Laila - whatey name :)

    I shall take tat PS and work on it bro. But just read this: http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/luxury-brands-grab-key-role/442261/

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