- The road in the road movie is already a metaphor – the road of life, journeying through which you become a changed person, so and so forth – and on top of this, Zoya Akhtar lays on with a trowel we never suspected she owned (and how could we, given that her earlier film was the delicately detailed Luck By Chance?) further metaphors about facing your worst fears, living life with less baggage, seizing the day, smelling the roses… By the end, I felt like yelling back to the director the film’s title, that I have but one life to live, and can I please not be made to endure more life-changing movies like this one.
- I guess that sounded a little harsher than I intended, for this isn’t a terrible film – merely an often-frustrating one. When we were kids, the typically insensitive kind who’d lose no opportunity to make fun of others, we used the term LLTT for the squint-eyed, “Looking London Talking Tokyo.” My frustration with this film is primarily that it is LHHE, “Listening Hindi, Hearing English.” It becomes a huge problem when people are shown to be from a background where weddings involve three-tier cakes, bachelor parties, toasts by the best man, and yet they refer to the cost of a handbag as “baarah hazaar euro” as opposed to “twelve grand.” It sounds absurd. And later, “Meri girlfriend ke saath involve hona was not funny.” No, that is funny. Even worse: “It’s like Holi, par wahan tomatoes ke saath khelte hain.”
- Had ZMND (even that title is so ungainly) been in English, I suspect it would have been the film Zoya Akhtar wanted to make, combining the casual everydayness of a road trip with the epiphanies of life-altering revelations. As such, there are several beautiful moments, but they just don’t add up to a singularly beautiful movie.
- After Abhay proposes to Kalki, her father announces that he’s not losing a daughter but gaining a son, and someone says he’s being “so filmi.” A joke, yes. But underneath it all, I can’t help wondering if there’s a bit of derision at the emotions you’d normally associate with the Hindi cinema of a particular period. And if that’s the case, why make a movie that walks and talks and emotes like an English movie and retrofit the whole thing into a Hindi film? Why not just make something like Delhi Belly, where no one is particularly interested in being a “Hindi-cinema character”?
- But the proposal scene itself is beautifully done (the cuts between the various toasts and speeches are terrific), and the director’s decision to wait until much later to show us the events that led to this proposal is a dash of brilliance. But a young man showing his girlfriend a box with a ring and expecting her to understand it’s for someone else… Really?
- Zoya Akhtar stages several scenes wonderfully – like the above-mentioned post-proposal stretch, like Katrina racing after Hrithik and planting a kiss, like the wordless scene of Hrithik being overwhelmed after his deep-sea diving experience. Why, then, does she spoil the latter by having Hrithik articulate his emotions (“it was magical”) to Katrina later, as he’s making paella? The magic was in the camera’s wordless caress of Hrithik’s naked emotions. Why speak and ruin that memory? What is this, show and (then) tell?
- A lot of times, I feel this film needed a younger cast. That game about pretending to know someone’s secret and watching that someone spill all, that game of word association, that game of screaming at people and scaring them — it all looked odd in the context of this trio. Then again, maybe it was that whole LHHE thing.
- Speaking of trios, Dil Chahta Hai, which came out ten years ago, was far braver in its handling of relationships, especially Dimple-Akshaye and Aamir-Akshaye. And you can’t help being reminded of DCH because, apart from the trio factor, there’s a peacemaker (Saif, Abhay), two friends with problems (Aamir-Akshaye, Farhan-Hrithik), an annoying character who’s certain to be dumped by a dithering girlfriend/boyfriend (Ayub Khan, Kalki)…
- Kalki thinks Abhay is fooling around in Spain. She lands up in his hotel room and they fight. But when Farhan walks in, she welcomes him and acts like the perfect girlfriend and later tells Abhay that she doesn’t want others to think she’s a bitch. (She says “chudail,” but of course she was really saying “bitch.”) That’s good insight into a certain kind of woman, the kind who smiles at the world and saves her fury for her man. But a similar insight is missing into a certain kind of man, the man whose girlfriend has been stolen by his best friend. There’s just no way he’s going to agree to a vacation that includes this best friend. That plot point needed further detailing, and here it’s just tossed off.
- But it was nice how, the first time Hrithik and Farhan met, we’re made to feel that the fault is Hrithik’s, that he’s the one who casually responded to Abbu’s death by means of a mere email, that Farhan holds the upper hand. And even later, when Hrithik’s made that 2000-pounds commission, he looks pointedly at Farhan, and we get the feeling that Hrithik’s looking down on a friend from a more modest background.
- With Hrithik being afraid of water (which is not just water but also his fear of a moneyless existence) and with Farhan being afraid of heights (in other words, the air, which is not just air but also his fear of facing his father), I was afraid that when it was Abhay’s turn, it would be another element, fire (which would not just be fire, but also his fear of an impending marriage where he’ll circumnavigate the flames). Luckily, it didn’t quite go that far. There was just a bit of bull at the end.
- That Doordarshan music bit and the Saare jahan se achcha-via-Berlin (in a Top Gun wink-nod) bit were very funny.
- We knew Farhan is a good comedian (his fixation with the bag is hilarious, as is his reaction to the sari-clad aunty singing Wind Beneath my Wings), but from the scene with Naseeruddin Shah (who’s excellent, and what a great idea to have him roll his own cigarettes), he’s also shaping up to be a good dramatic actor. Maybe he can play only a particular type, but that particular type he plays very, very well. The scene where he apologises “from the heart” to Hrithik is another very good piece of acting.
- And his best scene is the one with the Spanish woman he sleeps with. It begins hilariously, with Farhan hamming it up like a toreador from a really bad production of Carmen, and then the post-coital portion turns wonderfully bittersweet, funny because of the crossed connections in language, and affecting because of what he feels and the fact that she can still feel it despite not understanding what it is.
- But that whole poetry recitation was a huge turnoff. It was so not these people. Am I saying that dudes don’t have a thing for Hindi poetry? Not at all. But with these dudes, I couldn’t buy this conceit. I just couldn’t.
- It’s one thing to show Hrithik evolving from a meticulous packer (he even rolls his ties into a tight bundle) and Fortune reader to someone who wiggles his bare toes on the dashboard of a car. (In other words, he managed to dislodge that stick from his posterior.) But that shot of galloping horses? Seriously?
- There was something very banal about the flashback of Hrithik breaking up with his girlfriend, the feeling that you’d seen this scene a thousand times in a thousand movies. Even worse was the return to the present, where he gets a call from “Joe (Work)” – thankfully, it wasn’t “My CEO” – and decides not to take it. And then, when Abhay lifts Katrina, was there anyone in the theatre who didn’t know Kalki would be waiting inside? Didn’t you get the feeling from LBC that Zoya was a far subtler filmmaker? Or did the failure of that film necessitate these sledgehammer banalities?
- But the scene with Farhan and his father doesn’t contain a single banality. It’s the truth, and one of the most mature relationship-moments I’ve seen in Hindi cinema. It shows you why Zoya Akhtar is the real deal, a real writer-director (and not just someone who stages scenes written by somebody else), but perhaps she should make her next film in English. After all, that is our language too.
Copyright ©2011 Baradwaj Rangan. This article may not be reproduced in its entirety without permission. A link to this URL, instead, would be appreciated.
Posted in: Bullet-point Report
Baradwaj Rangan 
dipali
July 16, 2011
For all the banalities, there was much magic. And humour. I was in splits through much of the film. And the last scene, with the three young men smiling away with the sheer joy of actually still being alive, it left me glad to have witnessed that moment, and all that led up to it.
I have a very very soft corner for the bag scenes- loved them totally. My handbag has almost been named 🙂
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KSA
July 16, 2011
I am totally with you BR on your overall assessment: the sledge hammer approach was very perplexing.
I really think that the film’s main undoing is its casting. Three rich younger lads on the same trip going through the same trip and learning life’s big lessons would have been digestible. Except maybe for Abhay, the other two men looked and are too old to be waddling in this kind of a material and frankly, an embarassment. I thought Farhan’s character was able to round off okay what with Big Bastard Child angle thing going on and the poetry recitals foiled the goofiness, but Hrithik? This film just totally exposes the fact that Hrithik is not meant for a natural guy-next-door persona at all. He’s too in-your-face bulging, bicep-ey, unnecessarily intense, preening and hammy as an actor: all terrific traits for a big screen action star/scripted hero but in this one where you require a certain joie-de-vivre and buoyant charm, which he frankly just doesn’t seem to project. He sapped so many scenes of genuine fun. DCH is what it is because Saif, Akshaye and Aamir totally embodied the nonchalance. I think I read in an interview with Kalki that lighter films and lighter scenes are as difficult to get wrong as the more intense ones. Watching Hrithik falter so badly made me realise what she meant.
And yes throwing away that plot point of what-happened-in-preceding-4-years between Farhan’s character fooling around with Hrithik’s girlfriend and that he still nested such strong emotions with it (Why would you volunteer sharing space in such closed quarters with such a guy for weeks on end? I am not even convinced they considered each other friends.)
I don’t know. I just found this insanely clumsy, half-baked script-wise at so many places firing from odd angles and never really finding a graph or genuine warmth. Such a colossal waste of so much talent. Are these the same Zoya and Katgi who wrote Honeymoon Travels and Luck by Chance? Sheesh.
Extremely well articulated review as usual.
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Sridhar Ramanathan
July 16, 2011
so you hated it! hmm! That was a surprise! Well I liked it. It was fun. It did not bother me that the story lines were vaguely familiar. And I was not too affected if the lines were in English or it felt English. Just like I am sick of striped drawer peeping from a up-lifted dhothi, I am sick of seeing movies that I cannot relate to. This was urban and probably will be a box office disaster, coz India lives in her villages :-). Loved her previous movie and am going with a feel good thumbs up for this one.
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Lakshman
July 16, 2011
Went to watch the movie only for Abhay. The only reason I guess he might have agreed to be a part of an ensemble cast (which to his credit he has carefully avoided so far, except Honeymoon Tvls I guess) may be the fact that the character resembles him in real life (after recently listening to his views about marriage). Though he is faultless in the movie, I would rather not see him in a crowded movie. Whatever happened to the director of Ek Chalis Ki Last Local….
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Fatema
July 16, 2011
Sledgehammer approach? I am surprised. Every dramatic arc was played down in the favour of highlighting moments and layers. Characters (even if with broader similarities with DCH) were characters with real complexes and layers, not types. It was feel good and meant to be. LBC was not. Hence, LBC had a bit more ‘soul’. The language irked only when you single it out but in the viewing I kept getting amazed about how unaffected everyone’s delivery was. Maybe that’s why the Hindi-English incongruency didn’t jar, while in Delhi Belly the everyday speak seemed more forced.
Despite choosing a genre and a template that is larger than life Zoya still has painted that canvas with fantastic nuance. Sometimes her understanding of human nature is simply beautifully insightful as is her visual imagination, point-in-case the Farhan-Hrithik angle and the horse sequence. The film demanded visual beauty, why beat her for delivering (or choosing to) simply cause she chose to establish herself in more grimy realms in LBC? As for the Farhan-Hrithik angle, we are a group of four best friends, been together since 15 years now. Way back, around 12-13 yrs or so, my friend A went out with the boyfriend of my friend B. My friend B till date finds it impossible to forgive friend A. But we still are an unbreakable group and it is not like a marriage that is simply functional. We do go out on trips together even though the relationship between friend A and B is strained. There are layers that Zoya seems to have delved under and understood…and mind you it did not speak to me simply because it was familiar territory for me. It spoke to me because it was well-done. The example here was to simply emphasise that things like these happen and in these ways.
Agree with you on the poetry and the banality of the ‘it was magical’ bit. So was the ‘diving is like meditation’ absolutely cringe-worthy 🙂
Oh and by the way, your new form of bullet-point reporting is extremely disappointing. Apart from your insightful approach to art and unique sensibility one always came to your reviews for the delectably well-worded prose you managed to weave your thoughts in. Yet never seeming poetic (well sometimes yes :)) or flashy or overdone. The bullet-point reports seem like a transcript of the notes you maybe taking down while watching the film. Not fair to us, is it? 🙂
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namika
July 16, 2011
Life is what happens whe you are busy making movies like zindagi..the trailer looks like Visit spain now pleeese and that has put me off completely…too many of these roadie tripee life will changee movies…give me a road trip movie that shows that no matter where you run, you still come back to the same pothole you started on…spain included.
Now for the tequila on marina with auna sairam crooning!
cheers
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Rakesh
July 16, 2011
The original working title of this film was ‘Running with the bulls’
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Pradyumna M
July 16, 2011
‘…The casual listener walked away with melodies to hum and memories to bequeath to succeeding generations..’ This is what you wrote during your review of Raavan.I am disappointed with S-E-L! Thoroughly! Their last solid album was Rock On!! And all of a sudden they’ve just fizzled out! Like some wise alack tweeted ‘ From remembering every song in DCH to ZNMD (Not a single song registers) S-E-L have come a long way!’
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Anand
July 16, 2011
BR: Don’t agree with you at all. It was a simple feel good film and I felt really really good. Zoya has tried a very different style of narration from that of her earlier film. Why grudge her for it?
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Shazia Masood
July 17, 2011
I have not seen the move, and now I am in 2 minds.. should I or should I not?
I agree with Fatema, do you really write it while you watch? 😛
But i loved your last punchline, “but perhaps she should make her next film in English. After all, that is our language too.”
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Rk
July 17, 2011
I have no problem with this — this is how many people I know speak
And later, “Meri girlfriend ke saath involve hona was not funny.” No, that is funny. Even worse: “It’s like Holi, par wahan tomatoes ke saath khelte hain.”
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Hariharan Sriram
July 17, 2011
BR : I agree with you that there are scenes where Zoya forces things more than she should have (esp. ‘it was magical’), and she compromises some of her brilliance (yes, Nasserudin Shah rolling his own cigarette was a subtle, yet powerful show of attention to detail) with the so called sledge-hammering.
The horse sequence was one that I loved. I thought it completed the movie in a sense. To me, the whole movie was set in a dreamland and that’s why I felt the choice to shoot the entire movie in pristine foreign locations with stunning visuals was justified. And the horses galloping in the grasslands, was something which all of us have visualized in a heaven like setting.
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Hariharan Sriram
July 17, 2011
And I agree with Fatema, that you need to go back to your lengthy reviews. There are barely any good critics for Indian movies, and to have one of them revert to 2 minute Maggi instead of a 3 course meal is not fair on us readers!
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Arif Attar
July 17, 2011
Even while watching the movie, I was pretty sure you would make that point about thinking in English- writing in Urdu in your review. And you didn’t disappoint 🙂
But for Imraan’s poetry,his writing in Urdu didn’t seem unnatural. Most Muslim families, especially those that speak Urdu at home, have a taste for Urdu poetry, even if they come from the most liberal backgrounds. So his writing didn’t seem that far-fetched.
I thought Hrithik was the weak link in the film.
And have to agree with some of the comments here; The bullet-point system is actually a put-off…I think it inhibits your free flowing style of writing. I might have made that point in one your earlier pieces. Or was it Twitter?
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Praveen
July 17, 2011
Rangan Sir, did you watch this?
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rameshram
July 17, 2011
It was too obvious. , as if some America resident’s postal bride from the pind was attempting to understand and explain the concept of a road trip(and the concept of spain) to her parents in india over a vonage phone connection.
othervice it was the same old same old . exotic locales, shoot with polarized filters (which “trader” earns “commission”? )
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vivgup
July 17, 2011
Definitely too harsh…you were probably expecting a lot more from Zoya after LBC. I thought this was a pretty smart movie. Yes, the Dil Chahta Hai chemistry was missing, but magic like that probably just happens, rather than be created at will.
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soumya
July 17, 2011
Hi BR, I am a regular reader of your reviews though I am commenting here for the first time. I totally agree with Fatema. I have read your reviews of even those movies that I knew I would never watch because they are rare-one-of -the-kind-pieces which are really hard to find these days, even on the net…this bullet-point-reporting is not doing justice to your talent. In these times when there is enough junk being passed around as great pieces of writing, I dont see any sense why people like you should resort to mediocity, even if it is way too ahead of any of its kind…please revert back to your old style, atleast on your blog..
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bran1gan
July 17, 2011
Sridhar Ramanathan: Dude, “hated it”? That’s what you got? Hmmm…
Fatema: Oh I’m not saying the nuance isn’t there — but it’s not consistent. Zoya is easily the best director of the untethered scene (for lack of a better word). She marvellous at capturing mood. But the great bits were not consistently there, IMO. And I’m sorry, but I’d like to meet that friend B of yours, who’s okay hanging out with A in (to use KSA’s term) such close quarters 🙂
Praveen Sir: hahahaha! I wonder who’s doing the songs though. “Ennai konjam maatri” is one of my favourite Harris songs.
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rohitbalan
July 17, 2011
went in expectin DCH. came out of a 3 hour Spain Ad starrin d best lookin btown models.
meanwhile, a very interesting trailer for sahib biwi aur gangster played out.
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Indraneel Majumdar
July 17, 2011
Rangan, This time I disagree. The milieu sometimes dictates the language and the pace of a film. It also dictates certain scenes. I remember Hirani once commenting that he and his writer friend wrote every Munnabhai scene repeatedly till they either laughed or cried with the characters. It has been tried here in every scene.
About the actors, yes, their age is definitely an issue but the back stories were tweaked to accommodate the age brackets.
Sledgehammer is a blunt weapon. Zoya did not use that to evoke emotions. In fact, at last we have a director who dwells on some small moments without a scissor or a cam on cocaine and lets a few good things ‘happen’.
Consistency is for payasam, not for paella. The story looked for robustness, Zoya provided.
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Rakesh
July 17, 2011
Harris Jayaraj does the songs in the hindi version too.. retaining only Uyirin Uyire
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Rakesh
July 17, 2011
Martin Scorsese’s next
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rameshram
July 17, 2011
I dont really understand where all you guys are seeing all this in this film. Brannigan, your PAN does this film too much service. to me it just felt like a prospective bridegroom manual, “Jub veerji spain jaate hain jee, koi buri baat nahin…aur jub beach mein adh nange ladkiyon je saath khelte hain , to unse mujhe abhi shadi karni….paaji!”…
Ive seen feminist film made by (usually American Indi) dude directors Thi is the reverse. a female eunuch making a buddy road trip film for her other female eunuch friends from a “convent” school in society delhi or mumbai, being groomed to be postal brides for rich punjabi NRI kids.
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Praveen
July 17, 2011
🙂 Music in Hindi is also by Harris Jayaraj
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_(film)
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shamoni8
July 18, 2011
Road the movie, a 2010 movie starring Abhay. Checked it?
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prasun
July 18, 2011
This movie had english subtitles where I watched it and the subtitles definitely made more sense, at times, than what was being spoken e.g. “make way for the trucks”
It is interesting to see how movies have changed in the last few years. I wonder how the public in, say, Ranchi is going to reach to this firstworldproblem carpe the diem nonsense. One then wonders why Hindi remains a language of choice for movies like these. If anything, making these type of movies in english opens them up to the non-Hindi metro demographic.
I also wondered about some of the back story scenes – e.g. if we learnt about the biological father, the proposal etc at the same time as when the other friends find out – having the audience share the same sense of shock or surprise might have been a nice touch. Just like how they handled the whole Sonali thing.
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Gradwolf
July 18, 2011
If you’d be kind enough to check this out 🙂
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prashanth
July 18, 2011
‘There was just a bit of bull at the end. ‘ – Hehehehe.
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neha
July 18, 2011
I couldn’t help but think of Payne’s ‘Sideways’ off and on. Perhaps the trouble with ZNMD is that these are not people to whom Spain is unusual, wonderful or even different. There’s no real discovery. There’s some interesting humour, but the serious conversations are such a let-down. While they’re not young as DCH, maybe the film could have worked if the characters were actually a bit older, and dealing with a mid-life crisis.
There are some gems in there – like when Kalki’s character gets a bit upset with Farhan asking for more wine. And while this is a film about three men, would it have hurt a female director to etch out the women’s characters with a little more detail? Kalki manages it somewhat, but Katrina’s character just lacks depth. She might as well have been a random mermaid.
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Apu
July 18, 2011
I agree with Neha about both female characters. Katrina’s character was a bright presence, that’s all.
In that sense, Kalki manages to extract the max from a character which had all the potential to come off an shrieky and bitch-like. This is my first Kalki movie, and I felt she handled the character with amazing maturity and dignity. In fact, she just seemed to be used as a ‘soft target’ here, whereas there could be so much more nuance that could be…using the same theme that they were saying about relationships in the movie i.e. ‘we both wanted different things from life’.
And really, Abhay Deol. I felt that he was the most boring, least watchable in this movie. He was supposedly the ‘normal’ one and came with less emotional baggage than the other two. But did he need to be that effeminate? Is it normal with him or was it the director’s idea? In the 3-4 movies that I have seen him in, he totally lacks screen presence. Was that the problem here? I think he totally got the character in ‘Oye Lucky’ and ‘Aahista Aahista’, but maybe there is a good reason he should not be part of an ensemble cast where the others can hold a scene if required.
I did like the movie, though it became a little stretched and boring at the end, could have done with a load of editing. It ultimately seemed like Zoya took 3 people, 3 emotional issues/fears/problems, 3 tasks, 3 places in Spain and mapped them all together – which is fine, but maybe the stories could have been more intertwined.
Not something I would want to watch on screen again, but good watch on TV later. Especially for Farhan’s scenes. ‘Chudail alert! Chudail alert!’
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rameshram
July 18, 2011
the movie that came to my mind was the wizard of oz.
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Shalini
July 18, 2011
First, let me just say that I like the bullet-point report. It suits your style of reviewing which I have always understood be less of a “review” and more of a sharing of your thoughts/responses to your film viewing experience.
As for ZNMD, some of the points you’ve made (the age of the actors, the bumper-stickerish life message, etc.) confirms my fears for the film, but I’ll see it anyway – if a less enthusiastically than I’d like.
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jitaditya
July 19, 2011
I liked LBC & was looking forward to it… but my curiosity was overtaken by cynicism as the trailers came out…. & this review more or less confirms my doubts…
I only disagree with the Doordarshan bit… I found it seriously unfunny and an insult to good memories of childhood…
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Ninad
July 19, 2011
After all, that is our language too. 🙂
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Shaitan
July 19, 2011
Love your blog, but this sounds more nit-picky and way too harsh. I loved the movie despite the minor hiccups. I agree with Lakshman, those few scenes were indeed cringe-worthy.
And disagree again with Rakesh. Music is pretty good imho, loved Senorita, though a bit pop-ish so to say, the song stayed true to it’s flamenco roots. Khaabon Ke Parinday was lovely too. Ik Junoon was highly listenable. I’d say this is SEL’s best after a long time with high repeat value.
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jussomebody
July 19, 2011
I agree in that Hrithik was the weakest link. He didn’t shake off his self-conscious, greek god superstar persona enough to have pulled off a convincing performance. He did suck some of the joie de vivre from the film, which despite the obvious metaphors and predictability, the film undeniably has.
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Mambazha Manidhan
July 19, 2011
– The audience’s groan in my theater when the much hyped artist Salim turned to be none other than only our own Naseeruddin Shah was lol. ‘Oh no! Not this guy.”
– I don’t know if Zoya Akhtar wanted ZMND wanted to be a traditional road movie. If it was, the film would have been tighter and every juicy possibility would have been milked to its extreme. And, that tension between Hrithik and Farhan exploding in a physical confrontation would have been a showstopper at the end of Act II. If this was a road movie, then viewer would felt transformed by the journey along with the characters.
Instead, this sticks to be mostly a leisurely travelogue on Discovery Channel, which I am also fine with and glad to have had the entire experience for just Rs.120.
– We all know BR doesn’t like writers/directors who think in English and write in Hindi for mass acceptance. Can we move on the next point already, please ?
– Sledgehammer banalities ? These were not banal in anyway like Vaanam where the moral of the story is read aloud to the camera after each episode.
” The camera capturing Hrithik’s face was enuff “. Agreed. But, if your diving instructor, especially one who removed the fear of water from your mind and with whom you had a gaja-gaja underwater, asked you after you dived, of course you’re gonna say it was magical not keep quiet.
And, that part where Kalki was waiting inside was well done. With just a wide shot outside the hotel and one normal shot inside ( not a ‘Not what it looks like’ shot from the American Pie movies. So, although the audience had an inkling Kalki would be there, there was a possibilty that this was a normal occurence in the life of these travelling bachelors.
I remember you having an issue with Sonam Kapoor articulating Masakali the pigeon’s tied up feet as a metaphor. I can understanding why that can be insulting for a guy who can sniff out symbolism in a movie from years of watching art films, read the subtext like subtitles (like that fear of water, sky thing you have mentioned there ). For the rest of us, it’s just fine. 😉
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kk
July 19, 2011
You have to realize though that for women who are fed up of farting and fucking that is being thrown at us in the name of alternative cinema, this film was a fillip to the nuances in characters and detailing in scenes that we have always looked for but never found. The universal worldview unravels from an uniquely female perspective yet with three men! What an achievement to make a ‘Bollywood’ scale film without resorting 100% to any typical tropes – totally fresh and frothy. Like Pride and Prejudice, it reveals itself with each viewing though if it is boxed as a chick-flick/romcom it shall not do you the honour!
Agree with your assessment per se but you must also allow yourself to see what women see in this, for more: http://kaivalyam.blogspot.com/2011/07/waiting-for-zoya.html
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Satyam
July 20, 2011
As always loved your piece. Almost in completely agreement except that I was even harsher on the film elsewhere:
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Jabberwock
July 20, 2011
Sridhar Ramanathan: Dude, “hated it”? That’s what you got? Hmmm…
Baradwaj: hilarious, isn’t it? Happens every time. Write a long, nuanced set of thoughts and there’s always someone who will provide a reductive summary. Also, this is a classic example of the Hostile Media Effect phenomenon.
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tejas
July 20, 2011
I liked the soundtrack on its own. Within the film, it did not have half the impact. Indie songs need Indie treatment, which was lacking in the picturization of Khwabon ke Parindey. I think the movie captures the languor of the country and its vacation perfectly, however, the zing and highs of Spanish travel did not translate to both Ik Junoon and Senorita. Senorita is such a lovely track that it was always going to be a problem filming it, but they could have moved the camera away from the trio and focused on the locals to get the feel of the joie-de-vivre.
As I said, I didn’t have any problem with the soundtrack per se. These songs will go long in mid-night listening along with songs of Rock On.
Rangan, have you caught the Don 2 trailer yet? I am highly anticipating the soundtrack. Don-the chase begins had some of the silliest and some of the smartest lyrics – title song belongs to the former and Aaj ki Raat to latter.
For example, silly one – Bahot hi Khatarnaak Hoon Main!! Buoy, seriously?!
and smart one – Fainsla hai yehi, jeet hogi meri, mouths the character of Isha Koppikkar. We smug: ‘lady, we know this film. You are just overconfident.’ Oh, well!!!
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vikram
July 20, 2011
I guess the challenge is that after a debut like LBC, people expected her to continue producing work along similar lines and in ZNMD, Zoya has tried to be consciously more mainstream and less layered; thus leading to a lot of show AND tell..and moments like Joe from office calling…. if ZNMD is looked at as a standalone film it worked for me (for most parts, esp kalki and naseeruddin shah)…what could have been better- katrina and abhay..
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Shaitan
July 20, 2011
In complete agreement with Tejas re: the soundtrack. Wonder why it’s often deemed average by many. Senorita and Khaabon Ke Parinday is on loop as I’m typing this.
And about the “Bahot hi khatarnak hoon main” part of the title song, indeed, the most cringe-worthy moment in the film. Same with SRK doing the juggling thingy with the champagne bottle. *facepalm*
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bran1gan
July 20, 2011
neha: Exactly. The comedy worked, but the serious bits were — to me — so banal. I call it the “Wake Up Sid” syndrome, where an affluent character experiences life-altering epiphanies with very little discomfort. (Or at least, the audience isn’t allowed to “see” too much of this discomfort; they’re asked to merely enjoy the plush ride.)
So Abhay doesn’t want to get married to this girl? Oh well, let’s make her (1) someone who emotionally manipulates him into proposing, (2) suspicious, (3) nagging, and (4) (rim shot) a clinger, who says she’s giving up here life so she can live his. I mean, why make it so easy for the audience to identify with his dumping her? What if, for instance, she was a really nice girl, really in love with him, has waited for him for a long time, and then he — for whatever reasons (maybe he fell for someone in Spain, whatever) — has to negotiate the icky aspect of telling her he doesn’t want to get married. That would make it seem like he really had a “bull-run” worthy hurdle to handle.
I’m not saying Zoya should have done this. It’s her film. But then, if a comfy travelogue is what you want to make, then make just that film. Why these half-arsed “crises” that fool no one? This is why the Naseer scene works so brilliantly, because it’s a thorny scene and (unlike what she does with Abhay) Zoya doesn’t make it easy for either Farhan or the audience. Had Naseer turned out a shady guy, then it’d be easy to hate him and go all “oh Farhan, poor baby.” But here’s a grown-up giving another grown-up a few hard grown-up facts. Zoya makes us see Naseer’s POV even as she makes us feel for Farhan’s plight. That, IMO, is superb nuanced writing.
Shalini: Thank you. Sharing thoughts/responses/experiences is exactly what I do with my writings, so they’re not really “reviews” in that sense. But oh, let me not belabour this for the nth time 🙂
Mambazha Manidhan: See, if something really bugs me about a film, I have to say it. Just can’t move on to the next point because you already know about it. And no, Vaanam is not the correct comparison because that’s a movie meant for a very different audience. (And in fact, you could argue that for that audience Vaanam is made exactly the right away.) As for your last point, I’ll take it as something of a compliment, thankyouverymuch 🙂
kk: See, that is what we are both saying, that there is a lot of detailing and nuance at a micro level but the macro-level screenplay is all over the place. It’s just that you’ve made your peace with it and I’m still struggling… As for making “a ‘Bollywood’ scale film without resorting 100% to any typical tropes — totally fresh and frothy,” have you seen the super-amazing Band Baaja Baarat?
tejas: I love-to-the-power-of-infinity “Aaj ki raat,” one of the best things SEL have done (I hate the video though). Saw the Don 2 trailer, and yes, very much look forward to the soundtrack.
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lowlylaureate
July 20, 2011
i have not read the above comments, maybe this was discussed.
I simply loved the film as i did with Luck By Chance and i think your points against the film are no points at all, it seems that the characters should react in a way in which you feel is right for them;if not they are considered banal or unrealistic.
Not all cinematic movements need to be poignant and perfect, sir you are movie reviewer and not a quality control officer.
Pardon me if i was a little harsh.
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Shaitan
July 20, 2011
“What if, for instance, she was a really nice girl, really in love with him, has waited for him for a long time, and then he — for whatever reasons (maybe he fell for someone in Spain, whatever) — has to negotiate the icky aspect of telling her he doesn’t want to get married. ”
Actually, except for her bitchiness to Abhay, she did come across as a nice girl – though I see where you’re coming from. Serious scenes were not all banal, especially the whole Nas – Farhan exchange (as you said), Farhan’s fight with Hrithik etc, to name a few. If you further dissect, of course there are issues, but your review sounds way too harsh imho. The bottom line is that it’s surely the movie I won’t mind watching a few times more without running into the risk of getting bored.
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Shaitan
July 20, 2011
Let me nit pick DCH for instance:
Caricaturish characterization – Aamir – spoiled rich son, Akshaye – reclusive artist, etc
Aakash believes that love is non existent, and falls for Shalini. Rohit is portrayed as an angry, possessive guy who’s obsessed about his girlfriend. Shalini is the sweet little pup, who’s willing to sacrifice her life for her foster parents. They all get together at the end, and voila! We have Deepa as a gap filler a la Sid’s girlfriend.
See what I did there? Just proving a point 😉
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rameshram
July 20, 2011
youre just a lowly laureate. what do you know!
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nimmiR
July 21, 2011
@BR, LBC is also Bollywood but it seems Zoya wants to scale the humungosity [sic!] of the Yash-Johar star power+ canvas + Box Office so so on and she simply isn’t ready or doesn’t really know how!!! do you think so?
Band Baja Bharat didn’t have to handle Hritik, Katrina, Spain, vistas in short all the baggage that comes with wannabe super hits with super stars … It know exactly what it was doing nudging Bollywood in wonderfully different ways. Zoya is doing the opposite with ZNMD!!! Having pushed boundaries she is retracing her steps!!! To be fair ZMND holds together and has its moments. But seriously, it seems Farhan directed this as much as Zoya. You keep seeing his directorial laxity and laziness in many a scene, There were several scenes, on the road, in the pubs that simply did not move on sagging under the weighty pauses of having to do some very nuanced and subtle stuff…
You liked the Farhan track? After fear of flying and fear of the deep, this is like the child in Masoom growing up to haunt Naseer morphed into an aging Javier Bardem like artist !! His story seemed force-fed in this movie… he isn’t goofy [like Saif], isn’t an actor like Hritik or edgy cool like Abhay [miscast, way too serious in this movie] He is better off directing, scripting or plain singing!!!!
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tejas
July 21, 2011
@Shaitan – contrary to the popular belief, it was not Deepa in the last scene of the film who joins the trio and their girls in Goa. Just sayin’. 😉
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Abhirup
July 21, 2011
Agreed entirely with your criticisms. I do not think you have been “too harsh”; if anything, I feel that you have been a little too kind to the movie. It was a bad film. Barring some good moments here and there,this was one tedious, tedious ride across Spain. Thank God we have someone like you, who can be relied upon to so astutely analyze a movie.
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Vishal
July 21, 2011
Really enjoyed ZNMD, but almost continually missed that “subtle director” of Luck By Chance.
The Farhan the is the man… completely stole the show… Couldn’t believe how many LOL’s he squeezed out of that tiny handbag!
I felt that the poetry bits were one of the high points of the film. The poetry would have been hard to digest, if they came from Abhay/Hrithik. But I could see Farhan as a write/poet – he didn’t come from a super-wealthy family like the other two musketeers (as the shots with his mom indicate), the way he packed his bag did suggest he may be a bohemian, and after all, his father is an artist – genes matter! (Didn’t some his clothing style also make him look like a gypsy?)
Anyway, am I the only one who thought Katrina was a misfit in this role? Yeah, she is half-Indian like the role demanded, but that alone doesn’t make her a good fit for the freedom loving, traveling hippie (kinda) character. Except for the bike scene, she appeared quite different that the character she was trying to portray. No?
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Shaitan
July 22, 2011
@tejas
Oops, is that so? That’s kind of embarrassing, actually. Well my point stands, but thanks for pointing that out 🙂
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Shalini
July 22, 2011
Finally saw this and found it a bit of a bore. The laughs generally work but it’s too unambitious and superficial a film to justify the 2+ hours running time. All in all, I thought ZNMD was the cinematic equivalent of Javed Akhtar’s poetry/lyrics – tired thoughts and ideas only occasionally enlivened by some clever wordplay.
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bran1gan
July 22, 2011
Read Tehelka’s take and there was lots to laugh about:
“It manages a feat that Sarah Jessica Parker and the entire SATC franchise could not manage. It made a Birkin bag an almost full-fledged character. Like classic chick flicks, the settings are clean, shiny and sensual. Like classic chick flicks, the protagonist (Hrithik in this case) is transformed by love, not merely checking off ‘love interest’ as a plot requirement. (No, Delhi Belly, go stand in your, grimy, boyish corner now) “
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Deboshree
July 22, 2011
I had been expecting a good, if not brilliant film, after Luck By Chance. But it seems to me ZNMD falls short of expectations. I wonder if I should give it a go for those instances of magic that you talked of.
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Shaitan
July 23, 2011
Did anyone notice that the Bagwati jokes by Farhan almost never clicked? Abhay found it lame while later even Katrina faked laughter when he cracked the joke 🙂
By the way, what’s with the “my hand is a dolphin” impersonation? Is there anything I don’t know about except the Rebecca Black meme? If so, then brilliant, that did really make me chuckle 😀
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Abinav
July 25, 2011
Two lines BR: “There is just a lot of bull in the end” & “After all, it is our language too” – neat..! 🙂
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Rishi
July 25, 2011
Saw the movie yesterday, loved it.
What I don’t understand is the confusion around the relationship between Hrithik and Farhan that exists here. Perhaps it’s because I’m an Indian living in America and not in India, but those scenes struck me as realistic and relatable.
Basically, when a situation like that happens (two good friends, one of them hooks up with the other’s girlfriend), it really does linger on for a long time, even years after the fact. And it manifests itself everywhere else, but is rarely mentioned (because when it is, well, fights happen). I think we could see that tension in their interactions for a while and that’s basically how I see these things go down in real life.
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Manojh
July 28, 2011
Rangan,
I don’t get your gripe point for – “It’s like Holi, par wahan tomatoes ke saath khelte hain.”
What is so LHHE about this? For me, it quite fit the part of any casual conversation that we have amongst friends, the urban ones that we seen and grown up with. I tend to see it in the same light as Simbhu’s “make love to you..” statement in VTV that was dissed heavily in the comments section in your column. I felt that it was there for the taking as well, didn’t seem out of place. Don’t these fit your sense of the so called urban-multiplex-genre kind of movies?
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Shaitan
July 28, 2011
To add to Manojh’s point, the part where Farhan says “Barah hazaar euro ke hai, first class mein jayegi”, I don’t get what’s the issue? I thought it was funny, now replace it with twelve grands and it would sound seriously lame.
I don’t know, we friends use that sorta language all the time. I didn’t find those out of place at all 🙂
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Suchithra
July 30, 2011
Hey!
I got on to find you on this blog after reading your review in The Hindu. I think you can understand at this point that it isn’t to applaud you.
But I must add after reading your review here, I’m slightly baffled. Your final consensus seems contradictory to both your hindu review and the review above. You say that you found the bag related jokes funny, the proposal scene intelligent,the hrithik-farhan relationship interesting, the farhan-father relationship agreeable, the DD joke funny and maybe more which I can’t recollect but at the same time that it was only enjoyable on a superficial level.
Do you like the movie or you don’t? 😉
This is the first I’ve read of your reviews and I’m not familiar with your style but I don’t think I’m asking for much.
To be precise ; there are several points that are not in agreement with me.
Let’s say the hindi-english : ref bullet point 2. Seems to me that you either don’t live in india or you haven’t spoken to indians. On the one hand you complain that the movie isn’t real enough for you while you clearly don’t know how real indians speaks. In this case I would generalise slightly to say north indians, because that’s where hindi is spoken commonly. I have friends from the north and I am familiar with the way they speak and we in the south mix a bit of our native language with english mostly around those who also speak our tongue. Any questions?
And I can’t be sure how old you are but surely not that old to miss the age bracket our three protagonists fall into. To me they seemed about early 30’s and not so out of place with some of the jokes . Yes, even the ‘scaring people’ bit. I believe it was meant to be a reliving of old times, than anything else and mostly because they were on a holiday.
And ref : indian express. Why wasn’t Kalki portrayed as a girl really in love with Abhay you ask and suggest that she may have been misunderstood. Now the film isn’t about Kalki is it? Its about our “three musketeers” ;). Are you suggesting that in real life each of us are understood for what we are and its a blatant neglect that Zoya didn’t portray the same in reel life as seen in ZNMD?
And let’s not compare DCH to ZNMD. Dil chahata hai was a great movie no less but now dated. I can’t stand the second half of the movie anymore and not because its so “real”. To remind you, I’d like to bring your attention to the scene in the opera house ( could that have been just before the interval? I believe so). Preity suggests that Aamir close his eyes to catch a glimpse of his subconscious and maybe the love of his life. And voila; its Preity! Now, who would’ve suspected that. Not you I guess! Ref: bullet point 8. A little “filmi” you say.
And can you clarify the symbolism that you have assumed. Air is to Farhan as Water is to Hrithik. Since the fire is to Abhay was missing, I would’ve thought that you might’ve have realised otherwise. I find that in your quest to fault the movie, you have created metaphors that don’t exist.
And delhi-belly “not trying” to play hindi cinematic characters? They tied a jeweller to a chair, literally stole his cash and conveniently hid it in the almira and turned rich without anybody noticing? The fat chap washed his behind with orange juice for godsake! Which of us movie goers who watch movies at an Inox or a Fame cinema wash our behinds with orange juice. Tissue anybody? Or ok given the type of movie and his situation, newspaper?
My over all grouse with your review is that you complain that its not enough reality but you turn a blind eye to what to a good part of our population. (And to compare Delhi-Belly to reality? Is it because of the profanity?) Is it your belief that only sorrow and drama define reality? And have you considered that it was a holiday for one and two that not every emotion has to be displayed as the “end of the world” . Maybe not all of us lead complicated lives ! Maybe not all of us need to overtly express our emotions! Maybe the movie wasn’t supposed to be a life changing experience! Maybe a gentle reminder of subjects we are already aware of! And by the way I have heard a father of the bride say ” maine beta paaya hai” at a Sindhi mehendi function. I think that maybe, you need to take a second opinion.
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Suchithra
July 30, 2011
But I must also add that Hrithik was the loose thread. Like someone rightly said above in one of the posts, he is just not the charming boy next door kinda actor. He plays all his characters too intense, ruined the flavour of some fun scenes. Namely the ‘it was magical’ and ‘just let go imraan’ before he jumps off the plane (the hand action?? Wow!) And yes, Zoya should’ve spotted that.
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Shaitan
July 30, 2011
“But I must also add that Hrithik was the loose thread. Like someone rightly said above in one of the posts, he is just not the charming boy next door kinda actor. He plays all his characters too intense, ruined the flavour of some fun scenes. Namely the ‘it was magical’ and ‘just let go imraan’ before he jumps off the plane (the hand action?? Wow!) And yes, Zoya should’ve spotted that.”
To be fair Suchithra, I think she was more paranoid about the BO results after LBC. Hrithik was surely one of the better choices from among the “superstars” imho, so can’t fault her much. Overall he was fine though, except for the scenes you mentioned.
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Abhirup
July 30, 2011
Gave it a second try. Big mistake. It’s just as banal as it was the first time. My congratulations to Mr. Rangan again for his astute descriptions of the film’s shortcomings.
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Abhirup
July 30, 2011
And no, Mr. Rangan, you do not “need to take a second opinion.”
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Tantanoo
July 31, 2011
“Consistency is for payasam, not for paella” – Quote of the quarter.
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Niranjan
August 2, 2011
Let me play ‘Narada’ here for a wee bit.
I happened to see a ‘rebuttal’ review on Karthik’s milliblog page – rebuttal to your review here. In case you haven’t seen it, here’s the link:
http://itwofs.com/milliblog/2011/07/31/of-armchair-epiphanies-in-just-one-life/
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karthik
August 2, 2011
Rangan – What did you think of the dance sequence with the titles at the finale?
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radhika
August 22, 2011
Caught the movie only today, and came back to read your review and nodded away – you’ve got it bang on. Laying it on with a trowel was right. I was also petrified that Abhay would have some awful fear of bullshit, which he would have to confront. In fact, it looked a bit like he felt he would rather die than have to break off the engagement. I didn’t get the last sequence at all – if he did break up with her and she hooked up with the other guy as is hinted in the montage of snaptaking – then what was Natasha doing dancing blithely with him? Her character didn’t seem the kind to be peaceful about being humiliatingly dumped 2 months before her wedding. I totally agree with the LHHE – especially when Katrina tells him “Main afsos nahin karti” or something like that (How DO you remember quotes verbatim?) – I goggled a bit till I realized it was literally translated from “I don’t do regrets”. Muwahahaha that was. The senorita flamenco number – I cringed every time one of the buooys would go and hug one of the spanish women – wasn’t that highly inappropriate behaviour – and rather dangerous one too, in a macho culture like that? How would our desi biradars like 3 firangs visiting India and hugging our gaon ki chhoris?
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rameshram
August 23, 2011
“How would our desi biradars like 3 firangs visiting India and hugging our gaon ki chhoris?”
depends on whether it is holi ir not., obviously,
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rameshram
August 24, 2011
On second watch this feels like an isreali film. Easy financing mannerred casualness, and a somewhat insincere liberalism.
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radhika
August 24, 2011
that whole tomato festival was a vegetable holi, no? watching all the cavorting i was wondering if it began with the same intention of allowing a grope fest in the name of culture
The more i think about it, i figure she’s actually made a karan johar clone movie – all beautiful people leading beautiful lives, having beautiful epiphanies – there was edginess to Luck By Chance, the sly spoofs about script making, the sardonic characterisation of stereotypes like the Ambitious Mummy, the Exploitative Producer, the Struggling Theatre Artistel. This movie was all Readers’ Digest goo, in comparison, with its theme that the road to the self is via Drama in Real Life makes you more appreciative of your lfe and True Friendship matters the most
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rameshram
August 24, 2011
she was explaining to mummyji of the postal bride why the husband had not run away with that daayin chudail at the behekao of his lafange friends, just because he was on a roadtrip.
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mog (@bebaibo)
September 14, 2011
“But a similar insight is missing into a certain kind of man, the man whose girlfriend has been stolen by his best friend. There’s just no way he’s going to agree to a vacation that includes this best friend. That plot point needed further detailing, and here it’s just tossed off.”
I actually think this was addressed plenty. In the beginning when hrithik’s character calls to wiggle out of going to Spain, Kabir says he knows why hrithik doesn’t want to go (and we think its the money-making madness to blame). But then kabir goes on to say that the trip was cancelled once 4yrs ago and would be cancelled once again if hrithik doesn’t come. There’s obviously this whole upheaval that already happened. Now, on the one hand there’s this great “amigo” threatening to cancel his bachelor trip if he doesn’t show, and the other, the Judas who stole his girlfriend 4 years ago. He thinks (I think)- I should just man up and go be there for my friend. It happened four years ago, I’ve moved on from her, had other girlfriends. For good measure I’ll show HIM how well I’m doing, make sure to put him in his place.
I don’t think I’d have liked to see anymore play out on screen.
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mog (@bebaibo)
September 14, 2011
Also, Since there seems to be quite a bit of discussion here, does anyone have any thoughts on this- How does the Abhay-Kalki relationship end?
Contrary to most people, I didn’t think Kabir thought Natasha was a shrew and therefore dumped her. It seemed more like a time-out from a rushed wedding to someone he didn’t quite know as well as he thought he did. Especially given her presence at hrithik’s wedding during the end credit sequence. I mean there is no love lost between the groom, imran and natasha; Kabir dumped her; the bride, and her friend, she was wary of. Why would she be there if things weren’t all sorted? Why would hrithik pull her in to be part of a wedding shot?
But then, there is a scene in the sequence where kabir is taking pictures of the bridal party. Kalki is in the shot laughing with some other guy. Kabir looks away and busies himself with his camera. Is that regret? Are they somehow now good friends and he realizes he made a mistake? Is there going to be a Zindagi Kash milegi dobara? (I apologize for my rough translation)
My, that was a lot lengthier than I intended.
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Abhirup
September 15, 2011
mog, what you have written on the hrithik-farhan relationship is merely your extrapolation. None of this is depicted, or even properly hinted at in the film itself. “It happened four years ago, I’ve moved on from her, had other girlfriends”-well, I don’t think he has moved on, or he wouldn’t have that quarrel with farhan after the latter threw away the phone. The quarrel ends with hrithik slapping his friend, and saying that farhan must keep apologizing until the matter is completely flushed out of hrithik’s heart. This clearly shows that he is still extremely bitter about the whole episode about farhan stealing his girlfriend, and as Mr. Rangan has very correctly pointed out, a man who retains so much bitterness towards a ‘friend’ cannot possibly agree to go on an extended vacation with that friend. That part of the film was definitely half-baked and unconvincing. As were many other things in the film as well.
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Ramit Bajaj
November 2, 2012
Hi,
Very recently, like many others, i’ve also become addictive of your write-ups. Within 3 days, i’ve read around 50 write-ups by you (And i’ve also learnt not to call it a review, though i’ve not got the diff). Your pieces are focused not only at making the readers literate (grateful thanks for that) but also at fairness. You would judge a movie by its genre and not by its message or feel good factor. That’s pretty fair. But i’ve one issue.
I’ve observed that you defend Farhan Akhtar a lot and you overlook some flaws in Imtiaz Ali’s movies. But about the latter, some day later.
If in Rock On, Farhan’s voice cracks on higher notes, it suits rock. If in Lakshya, he doesn’t fulfill our expectations, it’s our fault of expecting at the first place. If after watching ZNMD, you feel that Farhan can play only one type of role then the defence comes that he plays this role very very well.
I would have considered these evaluations fair, had you pointed finger at Farhan where he actually faulted, without later defending that. For example, you’ve problem with ZNMD’s dialogues like (not exact words) ‘holi tomatoes k sath’, ‘gf k sath involve hona not funny’, etc. Your write-up suggests that these dialogues are written by Zoya when actually dialogue-writer for the movie is Farhan(which ofcourse you would be knowing).
I seriously take your each line seriously because it’s apparent that you’ve invested a lot of thought process into it. So, i would have peaceful days ahead (-:P) if you, my lord, acquit Zoya of some charges and put some blame on Farhan, who have gone scot-free by now in your court of writing.
Student of your cinema class,
Ramit
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brangan
November 2, 2012
Ramit Bajaj: Have you seen this review? I like Farhan as an actor, yes, but I do have issues with his films. As for the dialogues, I usually avoid mentioning names other than the director, so…
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henrik
February 25, 2013
Thanks. Like you, i felt the movie is vastly overrated.
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Jai
June 12, 2013
A big Thank you–though REALLY belated, for this review. Wish I had come across this earlier; I felt seriously out of place when this movie released and it seemed I was one of the very few in my family/ friends circle, who seemed to think it was less than spectacular. Actually, that would be putting it diplomatically, I found the movie pretentious and contrived in several stretches.
Agree 100% with your analysis of the Arjun (Hrithik)–Imran (Farhan) situation. Arjun is shown to be carrying so much bitterness against Imran, for his callous act of stealing his (then) girlfriend. One aspect which deepens this rift, was the fact that Arjun KNOWS Imran’s apologies are flippant, and Imran himself, when thus accused by Arjun, tacitly accepts this. On the other hand, he snipes at Arjun for carrying this grudge for so long.
The basic premise, that Arjun would agree for an extended road trip with Imran as a part of the trio, was itself implausible. As a part of a bigger group, might have been possible, (though maybe still not probable) since interaction could then have been kept to a minimum.
As some others have commented before, Hrithik was easily the weakest among the 3 lead male characters. He suffers from an irritating inability to drop his super macho, posey, unnecessarily intense persona. Two glaring instances stood out for me–One was the ‘Just let it go Imran!!’ with a ridiculous fist pump/ arm jab, moments before jumping out of the plane.
The second was when the trio step into the villa they have leased at one of their stops in the Spanish sojourn. The other two were more or less walking through the villa, taking in the decor and the view. Hrithik was showing us how a male model would walk, had the villa been a ramp. Shoulders thrown so far back his chest almost pops out, arms held akimbo to show off his muscles some more….Gosh, what WAS Zoya thinking in not amending that pose?
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indianmalefeminist
June 14, 2013
@Jai When did Imran accept that? I must have missed this part. And it was just a spur of the moment thing – they had a fight and it just all came out. It happens – when shit hits the fan, everything that’s been buried comes out – I don’t see what’s so unbelievable about that. It may not have been necessarily bothering him so much – it could’ve just came out in the outburst.
Arjun was persuaded to join too IIRC and changed his mind in the last mo. The other points yeah that I more or less agree with. For me, the movie was much fun, and most parts were well executed, I could forgive the slight mishaps. Obviously different folks, different strokes etc. again.
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Jai
June 15, 2013
@indianmalefeminist: Thanks for your reply…As for the Imran–Arjun tangle, it’s in that angry confrontation scene, when Arjun tells him that he needs to keep apologizing for his act of stealing Arjun’s GF, till the time he actually says it from the heart. Imran falls silent at that. Till then, it had been an ugly quarrel, with Imran retorting fairly sarcastically to Arjun. It seemed to me that it was his tacit acceptance, that Arjun had a point.
But, like you said, different strokes for different folks, so one could also interpret, I suppose, that Imran was merely trying to drop the argument in the interest of peace. (Given the tense dynamics between the two, I would highly doubt that, but still….)
On the related point you raised (about it being just a spur of the moment thing), we will have to agree to disagree ;-). I don’t think that this was something that just came out in the outburst. It was something that was clearly bothering Arjun, their initial hellos when they meet were cool and a bit tense, and Arjun goes out of his way to show Imran how much more money he’s making. IMO, the phone getting tossed out was only the last straw; Arjun may not have gone for such a physical confrontation, had there not already been this considerable tension with his ‘friend’.
That’s where I felt it was implausible that Arjun would agree to go on this extended road trip as one of the trio. (Too compact a group and for too long a time). Had it been a larger group, or perhaps just a brief get together for an evening; then maybe yes, as it would have meant much less time with the person he had obvious issues with. But here….
Somehow the film just didn’t ‘click’ for me. I admit, there’s hardly a film that doesn’t have some wrinkles in the plot, but (like you said), when I like the movie overall, I find it easy to just ignore the lacunae. Here, I just couldn’t put the missteps behind me, as my mind kept saying “Pretentious! Pretentious!” 😉
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indianmalefeminist
June 19, 2013
@Jai, thanks for the response 🙂
Actually, I took it as more of a frustration, despite telling that one’s sorry multiple times. Arjun was really testing Imran’s patience, so I think that was more understandable tbh. And yeah, also probably Imran was just trying to drop the argument etc.
Oh yeah, I definitely agree there were the lack of warmth and all that between them, all true. I just meant that it probably came out way more exaggerated during the outburst. And worse, he had just had a failed relationship, so that’s all made it seem worse, pushed him over the edge. He wanted a holiday anyways seeing the state his life was in, and probably didn’t want to alienate his closer friend, Kabir, breaking the promise and all that. Makes sense why he’d have reluctantly gone to the trip. That’s what I gathered.
As for the not clicking part, oh that’s all fine. The exact same thing happened to me with LBC actually – I did love a lot of scenes, I’m able to appreciate Zoya for her fine filmmaking and all that, but it didn’t just “click” for me as a movie either. This one did though, except for a few pranks and stuff, it was fun as far as I’m concerned.
Anywho, here’s to hoping Zoya would come up with something brilliant next time around! 🙂
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chandrasekhar
May 17, 2019
Saw znmd years back. Didn’t jell even though the ingredients were good. Especially Javed Akhtar dialogue between Farhan and Nasir. Saw review. 100 pct on the money. Old actors, translated thoughts, transplanted ideas etc. The punchline of Nasir is surprisingly missing from most YouTube clippings.
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