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.
