Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara – Could Do With Some Salt

Ever walked into a swanky, expensive restaurant with hunger pangs at their peak. You place order diligently,  salivating all the while and wait impatiently for the food to arrive. The food does arrive after keeping you waiting for a considerable period of time. You dig into it, your mouth flush with water, only to find out that the food is a tad insipid or bland. Maybe the food in itself is not so insipid, but the build-up of the situation got to you and you expected an unreasonably delicious fare. Or that the last time when you had food here, it actually tasted much better, or that you were in a better company then. Whichever way, you end up with your appetite insatiated.

Well to cut a not-so-long story short, this is exactly what you are likely to feel after watching ZNMD. It is a story about three friends – Kabir (Abhay Deol), Arjun (Hritik Roshan) and Imran (Farhan Akhtar) - who embark upon a long cherished and repeatedly put-off road trip which also doubles-up as Kabir’s bachelor get away before his marriage to Natasha (Kalki). On their trip, they meet Laila (Katrina Kaif), a diving instructor and also confront their individual fears one by one. Directed by Zoya Akhtar, ZNMD comes across as an opportunity missed; something which doesn’t deliver on the promise, or at least the title and promo in this case. Let’s count the positives first. One, cinematography – the film is well shot. The locations are exotic and beautiful and are well captured in the camera. Two, Hritik and Katrina look great. That’s it with the positives. End of list.

Now what are the negatives. Actually these are not so much negatives, but rather things that do not work. Things which if well executed, could have taken the movie a couple of notches higher. Script, the backbone of any movie, is the weakest link here. In the end, there’s not sufficient fodder in the plot to keep you absorbed. Plus, the predictability factor also works strongly against whatever storyline the movie has. Compounding the predicament is a sluggish screenplay and some very very mediocre dialogues.

The performances are quite all right but something just doesn’t add up in this department as well. The camaraderie amongst the protagonists is nowhere close to that in Dil Chahta Hai. Which brings us to yet another element that goes against ZNMD – comparison. Pitting ZNMD against Dil Chahta Hai is definitely not out of the place, if not completely unfair. DCH, directed by Farhan Akhtar, was a completely fresh and non-conformist kind of a take on youth and their everyday dilemmas. ZNMD has nothing new to offer. Plus there is Amir Khan Factor that is conspicuous by its absence. Naseerudin Shah is outstanding. He comes for a very very brief cameo, but even just five minutes of footage is enough for the stalwart to overshadow the younger lot of actors. Music is hummable but fails to lift the movie.

There are some genuinely fresh moments in the movie, but in the end ZNMD ends up looking more like a leisurely done promo for Spain tourism. It is a decent weekend watch but nothing that will make your life flash in front of your eyes and compel you to make your own bucket list and pursue it.

Rating: 2.5/5

No One Killed Jessica: Though not a knockout, packs ample punch.

The movie claims at the beginning that though based on true events, it is a mixture of fact and fiction, and that it is not a biography. However, for those who have followed the case closely would appreciate that the claim is more a preemptive precaution, as the plot with all its finer detailing, is very close to what actually transpired in this high profile case. The movie is based on the real life murder of model Jessica Lall at a pub in Delhi and its subsequent legal and media trial.

Jessica Lall, a celebrity bartender, was shot dead at a Delhi pub in 1999 for refusing to serve drinks to Manu Sharma and his friends. Based on true life events, director Rajkumar Gupta (Aamir) does a good job in handling the intriguing plot and its minor details. He etches out pretty nicely the culture of Delhi and everything that is wrong with the capital of this country: SUV driving urchins whose only claim to manhood is their trigger-happy finger and a brazen libido both drunk on unbridled alcohol and power; the clout and power-game which permeates the society and has become a way of life – like Rani Mukherjee says in the narration ‘Everybody in Delhi is somebody, no one is nobody’; the hypocrisy and guile of the administrative machinery, the movers and shakers of the city and even the ordinary men. So if you are one of those who love to hate Delhi, welcome to the club. Be it swindling of money or a murder, you can get away with almost everything if you have the ‘Jugad’! (Let me get this straight for those who take pride in this Indian invention – ‘Jugad’ is as undesirable as anything can get and as a nation we should get rid of all the negative connotations that the word carries.)            

The film follows the ensuing and long drawn out legal trial in which the accused are let off by the lower court after all the witnesses turn hostile. Vidya Balan plays Sabrina Lall (Jessica’s real life sister) while Rani Mukherjee plays a TV journalist who pursues the case. A public outrage and media coverage that followed the acquittal of the accused makes the high court reopen the case and fast-track it. Finally, after almost a decade of Jessica’s murder the Supreme Court upholds the high court’s conviction of the accused.  

The movie has some very nice moments and plays at a very nice pace except at a few places. Amit Trivedi again delivers a superlative sound track (look out especially for the track ‘Aitbaar’). However there are certain things that keep the movie from delivering a knockout punch that it could have: lead actors Vidya Balan and Rani Mukherjee have done a good job, but these are highly talented and fine actors and you expect more from them; the supporting cast could have been better - except for the investigating officer (his is a stand out performance) played superbly by Rajesh Sharma (Munjal of Khosla ka Ghosla); also the characters (including that of Rani and Vidya’s) could have been built more clinically as they seem either to be caricatured at times or a little forced (Rani’s character is a case in point) at others.

Jessica’s character (played by newcomer Myra) is built very believably, especially the looks of it. Screenplay is good but it goes a bit loose at places especially in the second half. Dialogues could also have been a bit tauter and the narration, in Rani’s voice, doesn’t sound very convincing. A significant yet often overlooked part of movie making, particularly screenplay, is the manner in which initial credits roll. But the moviemakers off late, having taken cognizance of this, have been doing a fairly good job of it – the animation of Taare Zamin Pe is an excellent point case. The credits are no longer mundane but are fresh and creatively thought out. This applies to No One… as well, though nothing in the class of Taare Zamin Pe.       

All in all, No One…is a very good watch and promising start for the year 2011 at the silver screen.  

Rating: 3.5/5