Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara Review by Rony Dcosta on Jul 15, 2011

Two and half years back I had my closest encounter with death when a truck hit my scooter on the highway. A lot of radical, illogical & life altering decisions I have taken in my life is after the accident. Maybe everyone needs some accident (not physical) in life to really see life the way it is meant to be seen.

Zindagi na milegi dobaara is about 3 bwoyz going on a 3 weeks trip to Spain. The idea is to do 3 adventure sports to get rid of their fears. They end up getting rid of that and some excess emotional baggage that they have carried from their past.

ZNMD is best enjoyed as a travel film for the wonderful moments created by Zoya & Reema, the dialogues by Farhan and of course Spain. It offers nothing new in terms of story which is a mixed bag of Dil Chahta hai & Rock On. Like me if you have been bitten by a travel bug this film will multiply it into millions. Two lines define the film and underline its philosophy - Kab tak ginne hum dhadkane from the song & Katrina's line "insaan dabbe mein tab hona chahiye jab who mar gaya ho". The travel bit in the film is for the ones who bag-pack and see the world but aspire to at least live the good life and travel the way these 3 spend their time in Spain. Farhan Akhtar keeps the best character & lines for himself and is the most fun character amongst the three. Abhay Deol loosens up completely in this film and Hrithik Roshan plays a character which for a change doesn't require him to prep up and shoulder the responsibility of carrying the film on his shoulder.

The bond between the three is the high point of the film. Just watching them makes ZNMD a feel good film. I don't know much about poetry but the poetry that Farhan's character writes (written by Javed Akhtar) is boring and not a single one evokes any emotion except the last one probably because I have heard it so many times in the album. Zoya Akhtar doesn't go a step ahead with this one, Luck By Chance is still a far better film than this but this one has repeat value. Now that she has explored two of her worlds it will be interesting to see what she attempts next. I have loved watching Katrina Kaif on screen whenever she plays a character which is close to her and this is one of them. Kalki gets to play a character which is more of a speed breaker and the not so feel good factor in the film and she plays it well. The film tells you to seize your day and live your life to the fullest but doesn't tell you how to do it? The characters in the film have enough money to seize the day whenever they want to. You might walk out thinking that I want to do all of this and lots more but the genuine koschan is -How???

Final few words: ZNMD is TLC meets Robin Sharma against the biutiful backdrop of Spain. It was designed to make you feel good and it achieves that.

Rating : ***

Ticket Meter : Worth a visit to the theatre.