Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara

Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara directed by Zoya Akhtar is smooth and effortless on the viewer. It brings the entire Akhtar family together in their various specialties. Zoya with her direction, Farhan with the acting and dialogues and of course daddy Javed with lyrics.
The Akhtar movies have mostly centered around relationships, especially friendship and how vital it is to our lives. The movie is spun around Kabir Dewan (Abhay Deol), Arjun Saluja(Hrithik Roshan) and Imran (Farhan Akhtar). Kabir is in the construction business and has just proposed to an interior designer Natasha (Kalki Koechlin). As part of his bachelor party, he wants to execute the pact they had made while in college. A pact that will make them try an adventure sport of each one’s choice while not revealing it to the other till the moment, which leads them to Spain. Arjun,the financial broker, comes in reluctantly while Imran, the writer has no such hassles.
The first sport is Kabir’s choice, where they meet Laila (Katrina Kaif) a diving instructor. Arjun is not very thrilled by the choice but Laila guides him through the experience. At the end of the dive, Arjun gets very emotional and feels liberated. They soon become friends and accompany her to the Tomatina festival. Amidst all the fun and frolic, Natasha crashes into the happy party, creating a sticky situation. Laila gets Arjun out of his shell and he learns to let go…and becomes more relaxed. This sets a start to their relationship as well.
Next choice is Arjun’s which Imran is petrified of doing, but does it anyways. Post this, they set out to fulfill Imran’s choice, which is seriously life-threatening but has to be done in order to liberate themselves totally. It dawns on them that this is their only chance to live and with the friends that they are and go ahead to enjoy themselves.
The movie does remind you of DCH, but only in the friendship angle and the road trip. Each character has its own insecurities and demons to handle, but it lets you feel that they are after all human. These are the people we all are.
Through the entire story, Farhan exhibits excellent comic timing and light heartedness. Hrithik is stuck-up initially but loosens up towards the end. Abhay plays the perfect balance and is quite goofy himself. Katrina is content being a part of the story and is not in the limelight. Music by Shankar- Ehsaan - Loy is calming and soothing to the ear, and refreshing.The entire journey makes u want to pack your bags and holiday with your buddies.
My rating: 4/5 – Only for all the men in this movie – this is going to make for one of my favorite movies of the year