Working for a particular brand in a digital field may get you few not-so-needy perks, but substitute the word ‘brand’ with ‘entertainment’ (movie) it works as bounty. Me and my colleague were blessed with preview tickets of Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara. Here we were, excited, humming all the songs of the movie and expecting a exquisite performances from the trio Hrithik, Farhaan and Abhay and nonetheless the icing on the cake ‘Katrina’. As soon as we entered the theater saw packed house with hooting and shouting all around the theater. Well if you are an hardcore ZNMD fan i think you should stop reading any further. The movie started and within 30mins, the broad smile on our faces turned into the expressionless face one could ever have while watching a multi-starrer movie. To start with, i read somewhere in the credits list that the movie had a editor. Yes, it did but only in the credits roll. How can a usual movie buff watch a 3 hour movie with nothing in it? The last time i saw a 180minutes movie was Lagaan back in some 2001, a decade back. Apart from the editing goof up, Reema Kagti and Zoya Akhtar were told to write a screenplay but they managed to write the entire history of their respective lives. Hypothetically, around 20,00 papers were wasted to write the screenplay *wink*. Coming to the actors of the movie, Out of the three Farhaan Akthar stood up and actually stole the limelight away from the two. His performance reminded me of Saif Ali Khan from Dil Chahta Hai. The timing and the panache was displayed very aptly and pleasantly. The girls would love Abhay Deol’s character, as he behaves and acts the way every girl in this world would want their lover boy to be, ‘Pet Dog’. Kalki Koechlin gave a stupendous performance of being a very grumpy girl, i loved her very much in the movie. Mr. Hrithik Roshan – BLAH, Ms Katrina Kaif – BLAH.
Plot: The movie is about 3 bachelors (Abhay, Hrithik and Farhan) who are on a road trip to Spain. Here they wish to fulfill each other’s decided tasks from Skuba Diving, Tomatino festival, Sky Diving and the running of the bulls a.k.a. encierro. Co-incidentally their Skuba-Diving teacher is the beautiful Katrina Kaif who is attracted towards Hrithik and shows him the truth of life. Abhay is soon going to get married to Kalki but later finds out that he still needs time to settle down with her. Kalki is the fiancee who is completely suspicious and grumpy about things. Farhan is a copywriter, who has the nag of writing poems and is a big time flirt, apart from being the usual stud he is in search of his father who left him and his mother and has settled down somewhere in Spain. Naseerudin Shah is apparently the father of the inquisitive Farhan, who is least bothered about his son and his doings. The movie starts with them, revolves around them and ends with them + Katrina and Hrithik’s love story.
In brief, nothing new for the viewers to watch. Zero freshness, raw editing and zilch screenplay makes a viewer say ‘Aise Movie Banao Na Dobara’, Zoya Akhtar’s amateurish attempt to make a matured movie. If you have absolutely no frutiful stuff to do in the weekend, only then go for ZNMD. Also, if you see Spain in Rs. 200 then stop calling the ‘Hollidaywallahs’ and go for the movie.
My Ratings - **1/2
