People
around me think "living in the moment" was the whole point of Zindagi
na milegi dobara. I think that's just one of the obvious points in the
movie for all to see and hear. Using stunning looking Katrina as an
example to personify this message would have made sure that no man and
few women would have missed this message.
I believe the movie deserves more attention than that. If you think ZNMD is just another 3 Idiots category where you enjoy the movie with one broad message, ignoring the depth of characters, my notes are not meant for you. You might as well stop reading now and thanks for reading this far.
For the brave who have continued reading, I think the message of live life now is neatly balanced in the movie through other characters.
There were quite a few subtle messages which are by now trademark Zoya Akhtar. As against Hrithik's character, the story-lines of Farhan and Abhay are more about balancing your past and future in the present rather than about the more western concept of "forget everything and live in the present". Its a shame that the writer had to place Hrithik's character in London as the one living for future and ignoring the present. Generally speaking, life in London and UK tends to be more about the present. You have ample opportunities to live it up every evening (referred to as late afternoon, making the phrase "shaam jawaan hai" seem so obsolete) , weekends and whole of December and more annual vacations per year than in US and India.
Looking at Hrithik's character I couldn't help but remember another scene from Zoya's last movie (Luck By Chance) where Hrithik playing a superstar, lost in his stardom is almost literally trying to get in touch with his missing childhood by playing with street urchins from one side of his car's window glass. Luxury and loneliness on his side of glass, lively but poor childhood on the other side.
to start with and through most of the movie, Farhan's character in ZNMD is all about enjoying the present with a recently acquired reason to trace a selective part of his past. there is so much that one can read into his conflicting eagerness and reluctance about meeting his father. Only after confronting his biological father (Naseeruddin) does he realise that he's been a victim to his genetic instincts. One got a feeling that he knew where he was wrong, just that he had been ignoring the better judgement of his actions that was within himself - imbibed in him through the best form of friendship and upbringing.
All this while, like his biological father, he's been 'living in the moment' and shunning responsibility for everything he does. Like his father, he wants to live cocooned in his own world of art (poetry and maybe sketching), meaningless affairs and solitude - not caring for his ageing lonely mother, not exposing his real self to his closest of friends and not really feeling bad about cheating with his friend's girlfriend. Like his father, he's been responsible just for taking care of himself and he does that well enough by balancing his creative writing with commercial writing. And just like Naseer he's aware of the ill effects of his acts of temporary excitement in present and past on the future of those who place their trust and affection in him, but he chooses not to hold himself responsible for it.
It takes him some effort to recognise the scale of responsibility that he has personally witnessed and taken for granted in the warmth and dedication that his step father would have had in his heart to bring up a step son the way he did, particularly in the Indian context. It is left for his friends who had a real or virtual fatherless childhood to point out to him the fact that he never grew up without a father. In fact he might have had a better childhood than the other two.
This is where the film's subtlety and depth of this character deserves to be admired. He's just shown contemplating and spending time with himself, without any dramatics. Just like any introvert would do. He then takes responsibility for his actions with a couple of long due heart felt apologies and takes his latest affair seriously. Just as a person of his intellect would do. His desire to go public with his personal poems is another symbol of striking a new balance - his own private, thoughtful, brooding self to be responsible for his public life and livelihood. Unlike Naseer, who is happy to keep his best work for accolades and creative satisfaction only. The character here delivers the message lost on many - live your life but not at the cost of others' happiness. Fun can not be at the cost of responsibility.
Abhay Deol's storyline and character appears as a bit of a let down in terms of time dedicated to it. He is the more balanced of the three - knows that commitments are to be taken seriously and yet likes to indulge in pranks with a bit of discomfort to others. He is cautious but open to adventures. Despite that, he is stuck with a more difficult tightrope challenge than the others. His situation, how so ever far fetched, does not have a simple right or wrong answer. He too, needs to look within himself and ask if what’s wrong for himself can be right for others ?
To a large extent I think the scale of this situation is exaggerated to get him a conflict to resolve. Given the clear headed nature of this character, he need not have let the situation come to this in the first place. Even if it did, he does appear honest and strong enough to be able to talk it out with his fiancee’ without his friends having to lecture him.
I waited a long while to get the DVD of this movie and in the end, it was worth it. Its a 5.1 surround sound version which allowed my home theatre to shine through. I got to enjoy Hrithik’s heart beat effects when he goes diving, the misplaced-but-somehow-makes-sense Saare Jahan se achcha music playing in the background when they go sky diving and all the other great sound effects.
As you might have guessed, I like sensible movies but I like it better when there is some sense to be made out of a movie. Despite the senseless Salman starring fare, Bolloywood thrives on with ZNMD.
I believe the movie deserves more attention than that. If you think ZNMD is just another 3 Idiots category where you enjoy the movie with one broad message, ignoring the depth of characters, my notes are not meant for you. You might as well stop reading now and thanks for reading this far.
For the brave who have continued reading, I think the message of live life now is neatly balanced in the movie through other characters.
There were quite a few subtle messages which are by now trademark Zoya Akhtar. As against Hrithik's character, the story-lines of Farhan and Abhay are more about balancing your past and future in the present rather than about the more western concept of "forget everything and live in the present". Its a shame that the writer had to place Hrithik's character in London as the one living for future and ignoring the present. Generally speaking, life in London and UK tends to be more about the present. You have ample opportunities to live it up every evening (referred to as late afternoon, making the phrase "shaam jawaan hai" seem so obsolete) , weekends and whole of December and more annual vacations per year than in US and India.
Looking at Hrithik's character I couldn't help but remember another scene from Zoya's last movie (Luck By Chance) where Hrithik playing a superstar, lost in his stardom is almost literally trying to get in touch with his missing childhood by playing with street urchins from one side of his car's window glass. Luxury and loneliness on his side of glass, lively but poor childhood on the other side.
to start with and through most of the movie, Farhan's character in ZNMD is all about enjoying the present with a recently acquired reason to trace a selective part of his past. there is so much that one can read into his conflicting eagerness and reluctance about meeting his father. Only after confronting his biological father (Naseeruddin) does he realise that he's been a victim to his genetic instincts. One got a feeling that he knew where he was wrong, just that he had been ignoring the better judgement of his actions that was within himself - imbibed in him through the best form of friendship and upbringing.
All this while, like his biological father, he's been 'living in the moment' and shunning responsibility for everything he does. Like his father, he wants to live cocooned in his own world of art (poetry and maybe sketching), meaningless affairs and solitude - not caring for his ageing lonely mother, not exposing his real self to his closest of friends and not really feeling bad about cheating with his friend's girlfriend. Like his father, he's been responsible just for taking care of himself and he does that well enough by balancing his creative writing with commercial writing. And just like Naseer he's aware of the ill effects of his acts of temporary excitement in present and past on the future of those who place their trust and affection in him, but he chooses not to hold himself responsible for it.
It takes him some effort to recognise the scale of responsibility that he has personally witnessed and taken for granted in the warmth and dedication that his step father would have had in his heart to bring up a step son the way he did, particularly in the Indian context. It is left for his friends who had a real or virtual fatherless childhood to point out to him the fact that he never grew up without a father. In fact he might have had a better childhood than the other two.
This is where the film's subtlety and depth of this character deserves to be admired. He's just shown contemplating and spending time with himself, without any dramatics. Just like any introvert would do. He then takes responsibility for his actions with a couple of long due heart felt apologies and takes his latest affair seriously. Just as a person of his intellect would do. His desire to go public with his personal poems is another symbol of striking a new balance - his own private, thoughtful, brooding self to be responsible for his public life and livelihood. Unlike Naseer, who is happy to keep his best work for accolades and creative satisfaction only. The character here delivers the message lost on many - live your life but not at the cost of others' happiness. Fun can not be at the cost of responsibility.
Abhay Deol's storyline and character appears as a bit of a let down in terms of time dedicated to it. He is the more balanced of the three - knows that commitments are to be taken seriously and yet likes to indulge in pranks with a bit of discomfort to others. He is cautious but open to adventures. Despite that, he is stuck with a more difficult tightrope challenge than the others. His situation, how so ever far fetched, does not have a simple right or wrong answer. He too, needs to look within himself and ask if what’s wrong for himself can be right for others ?
To a large extent I think the scale of this situation is exaggerated to get him a conflict to resolve. Given the clear headed nature of this character, he need not have let the situation come to this in the first place. Even if it did, he does appear honest and strong enough to be able to talk it out with his fiancee’ without his friends having to lecture him.
I waited a long while to get the DVD of this movie and in the end, it was worth it. Its a 5.1 surround sound version which allowed my home theatre to shine through. I got to enjoy Hrithik’s heart beat effects when he goes diving, the misplaced-but-somehow-makes-sense Saare Jahan se achcha music playing in the background when they go sky diving and all the other great sound effects.
As you might have guessed, I like sensible movies but I like it better when there is some sense to be made out of a movie. Despite the senseless Salman starring fare, Bolloywood thrives on with ZNMD.
2 comments:
nicely compiled... u compelled me to actually watch the movie again... I hope if you would have written this earlier than bollywood critics, the movie mite have gt a Bigger response. But "der aaye durust aaye". For the Hrithik Part, I would mention that though he lived in London, he was an ambitious Indian at heart whose mindset was only to think about the future and get retired at 40 to enjoy life which is quite typical of Indians (not all but to a larger count). You were correct to mention that 'life in London and UK tends to be more about the present' but Hrithik was doing the other way. So, placing Hrithik's character in London was actually intended by the writer to have more impact on the message of "Living in Present".
Nicky, I agree that placing him in London was intentional - for one it allowed the Katrina London connection and so many other aspects.
However, its ironical because for one lifestyle in UK almost forces you to take things lightly at certain times of week, year etc. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, a busy work life in India is almost a compulsion for so many reasons - peer pressure, a decent living standard , career progression etc. These are very easy to be taken as current needs rather than planning for future. I think they wanted it to be clearly defined as a his personal choice only to live for future and not make it into a debatable or subjective issue. Hence the choice to place him out of India.
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